citizen science

All posts tagged citizen science

On August 21st 2017 a total solar eclipse crossed the USA from coast to coast. The Citizen CATE Experiment used a fleet of telescopes to observe the solar corona during this spectacular event. From https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIII0aOZ4UA.

Among different fields of science, astronomy has a unique history of citizen science projects. In the last few decades, the advent of user-friendly software and web infrastructure, as well as off-the-shelf research-grade instrumentation, has led to a golden age of citizen science astronomy. Opportunities for amateurs to contribute meaningfully to astronomical research have never been more plentiful.

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May’s Northern Lights as seen from Boise State’s Observatory

An usually active Sun has given us some especially brilliant and visible Northern Lights in recent months. For Boise State Physics’ July 2024 First Friday Astronomy event, we’ll host Dr. Elizabeth Macdonald, director of NASA’s Aurorasaurus project. In preparation for that event, I’ve written this short primer on the science of the Northern Lights.

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