Help to solve a 175 year-old mystery
15 June 2009
Help to solve a 175 year-old mystery
Citizen Sky is a citizen science project providing you with a chance to do real scientific research. We are seeking to understand a star that has been a mystery to scientists for many years. This star is epsilon Aurigae, a very bright star located in the constellation Auriga, the charioteer. This star is bright enough to be seen with the unaided eye even in the most light-polluted cities, and it is visible every autumn, winter, and spring.
Epsilon Aurigae is a variable star-this means it changes in brightness over time. Some things about the way that this star fades and then regains it brightness are still not fully understood by astronomers after over 175 years of study. The next eclipse of eps Aur is predicted to begin in August 2009. We need you to help us collect data so that we can better understand this mysterious star. Because the star is very bright, it can be observed by anyone regardless of background, training, or equipment: with just good pair of eyes and a finder chart (which we will give you,) you can monitor this eclipse.
Citizen Sky welcomes everyone to be a citizen scientist. We will guide you through the process of how to observe epsilon Aurigae, how to send us your observations, and then how to see your results, analyse them, and even publish them in a scientific journal! No previous experience is required. We hope that this project will involve thousands of people all over the world in real, active scientific research.
To learn more and get involved, please visit http://www.citizensky.org/
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