Category: Astronomy & Space

  Share bird watching, sky gazing, weather tracking and other citizen science passions with your friends and family, with science exploration gifts and shared adventures! Field Guide to Citizen Science Want to get your friends and family hooked on citizen science? The Field Guide to Citizen Science, co-authored by our very own Darlene Cavalier, is an accessible introduction. […]

Every season has its own unique sights, sounds and other sensations. In this episode of the SciStarter podcast, we look at fireflies, listen to cicadas, feel the ocean waves and extend our senses beyond the bounds of our planet. Audio Podcast Video Podcast Credits: Firefly Closeup Terry Priest CC BY-SA 2.0 DEED Surfing Beach Video […]

In 2017, Jim Webster began going out at night near his New Jersey home to take pictures of our galaxy. With a 14-millimeter lens and a DSLR, he would capture long exposures of the Milky Way galaxy, revealing the delicate filaments of nebulae and countless clusters of stars hidden within the band of the galaxy’s […]

On April 8, 2024, millions of people along a wide swath of territory running from Durango, Mexico up to Toronto, Canada will be waiting to experience an amazing total solar eclipse– the last one in North America until 2045. While they wait, they will be pacing around impatiently with nothing much to do. You on […]

Do you remember where you were on August 21, 2017? Chances are you were one of the 215 million American adults who viewed the solar eclipse directly or electronically! A solar eclipse is when the Moon passes between the Sun and the Earth.  There are TWO upcoming solar eclipses: one on October 14, 2023 and […]

Introduction Hundreds of delegates from around the world converged at Arizona State University (ASU) for the Citizen Science Association’s C*Sci 2023 conference, May 22-26, 2023 to exchange knowledge and help shape and advance opportunities to engage the public in scientific research. Summarizing a week of action-packed days in a single blog post won’t convey the […]

When you make citizen science observations, you might enter the information into an app, take a photo or answer a few questions in an online form and hit submit. That might be the end of your part of the process, but submitting a data point is just the first step in the long, rigorous journey […]

Have you ever considered exploring strange new worlds? Maybe seeking out new life and new civilizations? And then abandoned the idea because you’re too young or too old to seriously consider going boldly where no one has gone before? Well, these are completely achievable goals and they don’t require working your way through Star Fleet […]

Looking for a special gift for the citizen science lover in your life? You’ve come to the right place! In this podcast, we share expert picks for over a dozen unique gifts your friends and family will enjoy while they help scientists conduct important research. Listen: https://citscipod.podbean.com/e/scistarter-holiday-gift-guide-live/ Projects and websites featured in this episode include: […]

  On Saturday, May 22, NASA scientists will walk amateur astronomers through how they can use their telescopes to get involved with real science. Studying the entire night sky is no small task. Even with a host of telescopes and satellites, astronomers can’t watch every piece of the sky all the time. But scientists want […]