CWL

GLOBE at Night: Orion Star Count 2013

The image above shows the constellation of Orion (at upper right center) as observed from Adams County, Ohio, on December 14, 2012. Note the Geminid meteor just below it. The bright stars Sirius (at center), Procyon (upper left), and Betelgeuse (yellowish star at Orion’s right shoulder) form the Winter Triangle.

See if you can count the stars in Orion with your unaided eye on a clear night. Don’t expect to see as many stars as shown on this long exposure view, but how many you count will help scientists measure the brightness of the night sky.

The second campaign of 2013 starts January 31 and runs through February 9. During this time participants match the appearance of a constellation (Orion or Leo in the Northern Hemisphere and Orion and Crux in the Southern Hemisphere) with seven star charts of progressively fainter stars. Participants then submit their choice of star chart with their date, time and location.

This can be done by computer (after the measurement) or by smart phone or pad (during the measurement). From these data an interactive map of all worldwide observations is created. Over the past 7 years, people in 115 countries have contributed over 83,000 measurements, making GLOBE at Night the most successful, light pollution citizen-science campaign to date. The remaining GLOBE at Night campaigns in 2013 are March 3-12, March 31-April 9, and April 29 - May 8. — John Chumack; Constance Walker

Citizen Science: Your Help Needed to Study Andromeda Galaxy

A group of astronomers is inviting the public to join their star-hunting team in a search of the bright Andromeda Galaxy.

The project aims to identify star clusters in our neighboring galaxy, also known as M31. All it takes to find the clusters in Andromeda is an Internet-enabled computer and a desire to help, said Anil Seth, the team’s lead investigator. “No special training is required,” he said.

The so-called “Andromeda Project,” which began Wednesday (Dec. 5), will generate the largest sample of clusters from a single spiral galaxy when it is completed.

Scientists expect the project could identify 2,500 new star clusters when finished. This would provide useful goalposts to chart how the galaxy, which is on a collision course with the Milky Way, formed and evolved.

“The general benefit is to better understand how spiral galaxies form,” said Seth, an assistant professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Utah.

“Andromeda is the nearest example of a [spiral] galaxy, except for the Milky Way,” he said. “We can study in detail things we can’t see in larger distances.”

Andromeda Project

Good Night, Exoplanet: Baby Name Book to Raise Science Funds

When new planets are discovered beyond the solar system, they often get boring designations such as HD 85512b or Gliese 667Cc. A startup hoping to liven up these names has launched a project to create a Baby Planet Name Book full of more colorful suggestions.

The planet name project is the first official product from Uwingu, a new company that aims to raise money for space research, exploration and education.

Now, for 99 cents apiece, you can nominate any name you like to join the new planet name registry, and you can also vote for your favorites among the current list.

“The many, many planets discovered across the galaxy in past 20 years are a tribute to our natural human desire to explore beyond the horizon,” planet-hunting astronomer Geoff Marcy of the University of California at Berkeley said in a statement. “Now people all over the world can participate in these discoveries in a new way, giving identities and even personality to billions of planets in our galaxy for the first time.”

To be clear, Uwingu officials say the names won’t be official, and won’t be attached to particular planets — yet. The only body authorized to officially name celestial objects is the International Astronomical Union (IAU), which hasn’t so far expressed an interest in changing the status quo of planet naming.

But Uwingu hopes astronomers might use the names from the project to refer to the new planets they keep finding, at least informally. The current tally of confirmed planets is almost 800 and growing, so that’s a lot of worlds that need good names.

jtotheizzoe:

Be a Bat Detective!

Zooniverse, the folks behind the Seafloor Explorer citizen science project (and a whole mess of other citizen science projects) are asking for your help in classifying bat recordings! Sounds like a chance to do some spooky science.

One in five mammals on Earth is a bat! And the ultrasonic calls they use for hunting, navigation and social interaction are as poorly understood as they are varied. When scientists head out into the field to record them, they end up with hundreds of hours of sound to sift through. The problem is that computers aren’t as good as people at picking out bat sounds from background and pesky insect chirps. That’s where you come in!

After a little lesson in bat echolocation, you’ll be ready to help refine the data, classifying sounds in order to aid the research and design a better automated system in the future. You can be the Bat-man or Bat-woman you’ve always wanted to be!

Check out more on the Bat Detective blog, and for a full list of Zooniverse projects, check here.

(photo by Barry Mansell)

Some neat and cool sciency stuff to try out this Halloween courtesy of J, enjoy!

Amateur Astronomers Help Scientists Map Over 42 Million Stars

Image: The open cluster in the Tarantula zone

Amateur and professional astronomers have produced a star catalog that measures the detailed characteristics of more than 42 million stars, many of which are accurately mapped for the first time in history.

The catalog is focused on variable stars, a large and diverse class of stars that change in brightness over time. Astronomers need good information about variable stars to learn details about the lives of stars — such as their mass, temperature, and internal structure — that would otherwise be difficult or impossible to determine.

The survey comes from the American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO), an international nonprofit organization of star observers that has been collecting data for this map since 2009. This latest release, which was made publicly available on June 8, covers 95 percent of the northern and southern sky. The project is expected to be complete in 2014.

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