PRO-AM collaborations

When scientists require the help of citizens with more specialist knowledge, they can reach out and partner with amateur astronomers in what is known as a PRO-AM collaboration. While a lot of professional organisations reach out to astronomy groups directly, there are many that advertise opportunities online and welcome amateur astronomers from around the world to participate.

HOYS citizen science hoys.space

If you are an avid astrophotographer, this may be the project for you. The Hunting Outbursting Young Stars (HOYS) project works with amateur astronomers around the world to hunt and study outbursting young stars, which involves long-term photometric monitoring of young stellar clusters. The project requires images of target objects, most of which are also interesting to photograph – you may even have already captured them. Contributors then upload their images onto the HOYS system and follow further processing steps. There are detailed steps on how to get involved presented on the HOYS website, along with an informative stepby-step video.

American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSA) aavso.org/get-involved

This project involves both variable star observations and data mining for those without telescopes. From an observational perspective the project requires contributors to observe and record variable stars from a list of target stars following an in-depth tutorial presented by AAVSA. For those who would rather contribute from the comfort of their own home, there are numerous data-mining projects to get involved with, each with their own aims and objectives.