Citizen Science from Preschool to PhD
Cogitatio in vero exquirendo maxime versatur, appetitus impellit ad agendum.
(The Intellect engages us in the pursuit of truth, the passions impel us to action.)
— Marcus Tullius Cicero
Got ten minutes while waiting to see the doctor? Help process BRAMS data from the 2022 Lyrid meteor shower on your tablet. Got 30 minutes before bed while watching your favorite sitcom? Why not classify a few folded lightcurves (from SuperWASP observatory data) for potentially periodic variable stars? Or, if you’re tired … maybe listen to some audio files and view the spectrograms of humpback whale songs and classify them? (for those who say whales aren’t astronomy, remember Spock: “They are not the hell your whales,” from “Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home”).
Learn what citizen science is, how you can participate, and walk through a few classifications on one of the largest public platforms, Zooniverse.
In a time when science is notoriously underfunded, being a citizen scientist is one way you can make a difference — and have fun while doing it. There are citizen science projects for all ages, abilities, and interests. You can help look for brown dwarfs or transiting exoplanets, document light pollution, or help identify cloudy skies for NASA.
Resource links will be provided for citizen science projects and platforms in addition to Zooniverse. From universities such as Oxford, Harvard and Carnegie Mellon, and institutions such as NASA, NOAA, the CDC, the Smithsonian and SETI, there is no shortage of projects that need your help.
Speaker: Kerry Vail