Tag: Citizen Science

An Eclipse Megamovie Megastar

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1 Min Read An Eclipse Megamovie Megastar Nasmus Nazir’s High Dynamic Range image, created with processed photographs of the Sun’s corona taken during the total solare eclipse on April 8th, 2024. Nazmus “Naz” Nasir is a software engineer by day, and an astrophotographer by night….and sometimes by day as well! This April, Naz participated in NASA’s Eclipse Megamovie 2024 project, photographing the total solar eclipse. He posted online a spectacular video composed of stabilized and aligned photographs of the sun taken during totality. The video includes links to tutorials Naz created to teach viewers…

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NASA eClips Engages Families at 2024 STEM Community Day

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2 min read NASA eClips Engages Families at 2024 STEM Community Day On Saturday, June 1, 2024, thousands of community members attended the Science, Technology, Engineering, & Mathematics (STEM) Community Day hosted by Christopher Newport University in partnership with Newport News Public Schools in Virginia. The event showcased many different facets of STEM fields and careers and offered hands-on experiences by nearly 100 exhibitors. Educators from the National Institute of Aerospace’s Center for Integrated STEM Education (NIA-CISE) engaged learners of all ages at this annual event with a 13-foot tree.…

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Aurorasaurus Roars During Historic Solar Storm

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2 min read Aurorasaurus Roars During Historic Solar Storm During the peak of activity (May 10-11, 2024) the Aurorasaurus website showed widespread reports and real-time alerts. The largest geomagnetic storm in 21 years lit up the sky last weekend, and NASA’s volunteers were ready. Between May 10th and 12th 2024, NASA’s Aurorasaurus project received an unprecedented number of reports from around the world. It also helped eager aurora chasers get a better view. “Aurorasaurus made all the difference for me,” said volunteer Damon Tighe. “I was able to see it in Oakland, CA and knew it was coming…

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The April 8 Total Solar Eclipse: Through the Eyes of NASA

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5 Min Read The April 8 Total Solar Eclipse: Through the Eyes of NASA A total solar eclipse is seen in Dallas on April 8, 2024. A total solar eclipse swept across a narrow portion of the North American continent from Mexico’s Pacific coast to the Atlantic coast of Newfoundland, Canada. A partial solar eclipse was visible across the entire North American continent along with parts of Central America and Europe. Credits: NASA/Keegan Barber On April 8, 2024, the Moon’s shadow swept across North America, treating millions to a breathtaking…

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More Than 36,000 Volunteers Helped Do NASA Eclipse Science

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2 Min Read More Than 36,000 Volunteers Helped Do NASA Eclipse Science SunSketcher volunteers captured sequences of eclipse images, revealing the precise size and shape of the Sun and testing theories of gravity! Credits: Clinton Lewis from New Harmony, IN/Western Kentucky University Thank you for helping us out! Over 36,000 people helped do NASA Science during Monday’s total solar eclipse. Together, these volunteers submitted more than 60,000 vital pieces of eclipse data to NASA science projects. More than 30,000 volunteers with the SunSketcher project pointed their smartphones toward the Sun and recorded…

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Sketch the Shape of the Sun for Science During the Solar Eclipse

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5 min read Sketch the Shape of the Sun for Science During the Solar Eclipse Calling all eclipse admirers! The SunSketcher team is looking for one million volunteers to capture photos on their cell phones during the April 8 total solar eclipse. These images will help scientists learn about the size, shape, and inner structure of the Sun. This NASA-funded citizen science project invites anyone who will be within the path of totality in the U.S. to take photos of the Baily’s Beads effect, which occurs when little points of…

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NASA Volunteers Find Fifteen Rare “Active Asteroids”

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2 Min Read NASA Volunteers Find Fifteen Rare “Active Asteroids” NASA’s Active Asteroids project Credits: Henry Hsieh Some extraordinary asteroids have “activity”—comet-like tails or envelopes of gas and dust.  NASA’s Active Asteroids project announced the discovery of activity on fifteen asteroids, challenging conventional wisdom about the solar system. To find these fifteen rare objects, more than 8000 volunteers combed through 430,000 images from the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) on the Victor M. Blanco telescope in Chile. A paper about the results, now published in the Astronomical Journal, includes nine volunteers…

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Earn Awards for Doing NASA Science with GLOBE Observer

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2 min read Earn Awards for Doing NASA Science with GLOBE Observer GLOBE Observer, the mobile app of the Global Learning and Observation to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) Program , gives anyone who wants to (in 120+ GLOBE countries) the opportunity to do NASA science by making environmental observations that complement NASA satellite observations and help scientists study Earth and the global environment.  On March 6, 2024, the GLOBE Observer team released a new way to appreciate and celebrate volunteer contributions: My Achievements! This new section of the GLOBE Observer…

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For Your Processing Pleasure: The Sharpest Pictures of Jupiter’s Volcanic Moon Io in a Generation

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1 min read For Your Processing Pleasure: The Sharpest Pictures of Jupiter’s Volcanic Moon Io in a Generation Jupiter’s moon Io, its night side illuminated by reflected sunlight from Jupiter, or “Jupitershine.” Image data: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS Image processing by Emma Wälimäki © CC BY NASA’s Juno spacecraft just made the closest flybys of Jupiter’s moon Io that any spacecraft has carried out in more than 20 years. An instrument on this spacecraft called “JunoCam” returned spectacular, high-resolution images—and raw data are now available for you to process, enhance, and investigate. On Dec. 30th, 2023, Juno…

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UNITE All-Nighter Delights Amateur Astronomers

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2 min read UNITE All-Nighter Delights Amateur Astronomers Fadi Saibi and his daughter Sophie, age 14, pose for a photograph with their Unistellar telescope in their backyard in Sunnyvale, Calif., on Thursday, Jan. 11, 2024. Credit: Bay Area News Group/Nhat V. Meye Maybe you read about them in the papers–amateur astronomers in Japan, Russia, France, Finland, and the United States have been pulling all-nighters to spot extraordinary exoplanets, planets orbiting stars other than the Sun.  NASA’s UNITE project holds these planetary stakeouts several times every month, and you can join in!…

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