5 upvotes, 4 direct replies (showing 4)
View submission: Ask Anything Wednesday - Physics, Astronomy, Earth and Planetary Science
This is a fairly basic question but:
How do I contribute to Astronomy science as a very low budget backyard astronomer? I love space a ton, and missed my calling getting into astronomy professionally but would still really enjoy having some form of contribution to the scientific community.
Comment by Brickleberried at 20/07/2022 at 18:03 UTC
6 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Other citizen science projects are usually something you do by looking at data on your computer rather than using a telescope.
Comment by MisterKyo at 20/07/2022 at 20:06 UTC
7 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Perhaps not the way you're looking for (e.g. directly contributing to data sets) but I think a good way would be to start or participate with local schools to get teens into astronomy. At that level, you'll likely be quite capable in explaining phenomenon to them, and they will be able to absorb some of it as well with elementary maths.
We (the researchers) sometimes forget that communication of research to the general public is also important. Being able to communicate what we're doing, how we're doing it, and inspiring future generations will contribute a lot to building the future community.
Comment by ArcturusStream at 21/07/2022 at 10:27 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
If you are interested in contributing to the scientific analysis side of things, there are a number of Citizen Science programs you can look into. Citizen Science projects usually involve extremely large datasets, far too large for scientists to completely analyze on their own, so they set up guidelines and outsource the work to the interested public. These projects have made lots of interesting discoveries as well, and they are mostly good about granting credit to the members of the public that help on specific discoveries.
A good place to get started with something like this is Zooniverse[1]. It is a collection of a number of different projects in different fields, like galaxy classification or exoplanet transit discovery.
1: https://www.zooniverse.org/
Another route you can approach is getting in contact with your national astronomical society or local chapter, like the American Astronomical Society (AAS) in the US or the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) in the UK. They might have resources/suggestions for you and they sometimes accept amateur members at reduced rates.
You can also contact your local university with an astronomy/physics department. They love doing outreach events for the public and almost always want more help with them. You could coordinate with them to set up public observings or viewings for example.
Comment by Brickleberried at 29/07/2022 at 14:02 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies