Citizen science projects to try at home

From classifying galaxies to identifying features on the Red Planet, All About Space reveals how you can contribute to science

From classifying galaxies to identifying features on the Red Planet, All About

Space reveals how you can contribute

Citizen science is a great way to gather and analyse large amounts of data with the aid of the general public. Collaboration between scientists and citizens has played an important role across scientific disciplines, especially in regards to space science. You don’t need to have any prior knowledge to be a citizen scientist, just a willingness to participate and a desire to aid scientific discovery.

One of the most notable citizen science projects in the history of space science was Operation Moonwatch. Established in 1956 as part of the International Geophysical Year (IGY), it was the brainchild of Fred Whipple, director of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. The IGY was a worldwide effort to study Earth and its planetary environment, lasting from 1 July 1957 to 31 December 1958.

Many were sceptical about non-experts conducting research, but Operation Moonwatch soon became one of the most successful and longrunning citizen science programs in history. The plan was that teams of observers around the world would track, time and document satellites passing over their location. The data would then be fed back to the computation centre and used to position Baker-Nunn cameras around the world, designed to keep an eye on low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellites.

On 4 October 1957, the launch of Sputnik 1 caught the world by surprise. Although the worldwide network of cameras wasn’t ready, the thousands of Operation Moonwatch volunteers were. Suddenly the spotlight was on citizen scientists, who were the first to observe and record the trajectory of Sputnik.

Operation Moonwatch continued to play an important role in tracking and documenting satellites Sputnik and Explorer 1. After the IGY ended, teams maintained their patrol of the skies, and in September 1962 were able to provide vital information on the re-entry of Sputnik 4, which had failed to return to Earth two years earlier. Though Operation Moonwatch was disbanded in 1975, many teams continued to observe the skies, and satellite tracking is still a popular pastime for many amateur astronomers around the world. Operation Moonwatch paved the way for modernday citizen science, having highlighted the value of collaborative research between the general public and scientists. Nowadays participation in citizen science projects couldn’t be more straightforward, with many easily accessible from home on your computer or even an app on your mobile phone.