The Citizen Sky Project
This summer, the third-magnitude star epsilon Aurigae will experience its next eclipse. This only occurs every 27.1 years and lasts between 640 and 730 days. The star is over 2000 times larger (by size, not mass) than our Sun and would engulf the Earth if placed in the center of our solar system. Many properties remain unknown; for example, scientists don’t know if there are two or three or even more stars in the system. There is strange mid-eclipse behavior that cannot currently be explained. During the last eclipse in 1981-1982, a key portion of the light curve was lost as the star passed behind the Sun, making it unobservable from Earth.
In this IYA project, we hope to assemble one of the largest astronomy research teams in history by training interested citizens and amateur scientists and enabling them to make the necessary observations. This archive, to be hosted at the AAVSO, will offer real-time updates and interactivity with the data. The goal is to actively involve the largest possible number of citizen-scientists in increasing our knowledge of the epsilon Aurigae system. Along the way, citizens will learn about the process of conducting research and will find new ways to increase their science literacy skills. We will guide participants through the process of how to observe eps Aur, how to submit observations of the star, how to see their results, analyze them, and even publish them in a peer-reviewed, scientific journal.
Website: The Citizen Sky website launched in June 2009. This site serves as the “home base” for anyone interested in participating in this project. The site includes blogs, discussion forums, topical chats, a place to submit and analyze data, training materials, plus much more.
Workshop: A 3-day workshop, focused on observing and education/public outreach, will be held at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago, August 5-7, 2009. Video of talks at the workshops will be available via the Citizen Sky website after the workshop. A second workshop on data analysis and scientific paper writing will be held at the California Academy of Sciences, Spring 2010. Stay tuned to the website for workshop updates and application instructions.
Observations/Analysis: Epsilon Aurigae is an ideal target for those interested in learning how to observe variable stars. By following the Ten Star Tutorial available on our website, a new observer will be trained in the technique needed to make and report a visual variable star estimate. Information on taking digital observations of epsilon Aurigae is also available on the Citizen Sky website under “Getting Started With…” We are developing data analysis software, which will come with tutorials to help train participants in the basics of astronomical data analysis – this software will be unveiled at the Chicago workshop in early August 2009. A special edition of the peer-reviewed Journal of the AAVSO will be dedicated to papers written by project participants.
Education and Public Outreach: The brightness of the star provides a rare opportunity to engage the general public in citizen science. Participants are needed to help write newsletter and newspaper articles, prepare talks and slide shows, develop artwork, to give talks and participate in other forms of community outreach. Teams of interested participants with complementary skill sets are being assembled right now (ex: teaming up a science writer with an illustrator) and will continue to be assembled throughout the project.
For more information, please visit: www.CitizenSky.org
NOTE: A project update was posted on the Citizen Sky website on July 21, 2009.
