Citizen Science
You can contribute to real science research projects from home! Join the thousands of citizen scientists who are making a difference every day, gathering or analyzing data to help advance science.
What is Citizen Science?
Popular media frequently portrays the lone scientist, making discoveries on his or her own in the confines of a laboratory or office. The reality of modern science is that the amount of data required to make advances is often too large for any one person -- or even a small team -- to effectively gather or analyze.
Over the past several decades, scientists have explored partnering with the public to help with these endeavors. The tasks opened up to citizen scientists have evolved significantly, and their contributions to science have likewise increased. Online citizen science projects, such as Galaxy Zoo, have taken data sets that would have required a small science team over a century to analyze and completed the analysis with a high level of accuracy in months. The results? A number of research papers and a better understanding of the world and universe around us.
Explore the Zooniverse!
The Zooniverse began as a lone project: Galaxy Zoo. The premise for the Galaxy Zoo was that people are excellent at visually analyzing data in a way that computers have yet to achieve. Why not ask the general public for help in analyzing an extremely large data set of galaxy images? The public plunged in quite happily and saved a graduate student over a hundred years of work. The contributions made by citizen scientists in this case has resulted in over a dozen published papers and a better understanding of our universe.
What happens when galaxies merge or collide? Match real galaxy images with computer simulations.
Catch an exploding star in action. Astronomers follow up on your best finds at telescopes around the world.
Spot storms on the Sun and track them across space to give us early warning if they are headed our way.
Recover worldwide weather data from WWI Royal Navy records to build a better view of our climate.
Using real data from NASA's Kepler mission, help astronomers discover planets orbiting around distant stars.
Explore our Moon in unprecedented detail using images from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.
The Adler is proud to be a lead member of the Citizen Science Alliance, the organizing body for the Zooniverse.
What Do I Need to Participate?
The most important requirement for citizen scientists is enthusiasm. Beyond that, projects vary widely in how much time and what equipment is needed. To help get you started, we've provided a few projects below that only require a few minutes and a computer with Internet access. Be forewarned, however, that citizen science can be highly addictive!
We could also use your help to let us know what you think about the Zooniverse. When you visit the Adler Planetarium, you may be asked to participate in a brief 30 minute interview with one of our research staff. Your feedback will go directly towards helping real scientists with their own science projects! You can also get up to two (2) free tickets for admission and one of the shows at the Planetarium if you participate!
- Around the Adler
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Our Doane Observatory is open every Third Thursday for Adler After Dark.
- Did you know?
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Over its flight career, space shuttle Endeavour flew 122853151 miles and spent 299 days in space.
- Get involved
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Observe the skies with your very own telescope.
