NASA seeks volunteers, regardless of academic level, to identify eclipsing binary stars

2024-09-12 07:45:48

Citizen science initiatives are more popular and achieving more important results. Citizen science is research that is fostered through the free collaboration of volunteers, without the need for technical training, to help scientists with simple but time-consuming tasks. This workforce can be critical to the completion of projects that would otherwise be impossible for a team of scientists.

NASA recently launched a new citizen science project, called Eclipsing Binary Patrol, whose goal is to identify eclipsing binary stars.

Ellipsing binaries are special pairs of stars that, from our viewing perspective on Earth, cross opposite each other as they orbit each other. In other words, they are stars that take turns blocking each other’s light. In the Eclipsing Binary Patrol project, willing people will have the opportunity to help discover these unusual pairs of stars.

In Eclipsing Binary Patrol, you will work with real data from NASA’s TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) mission. TESS collects a lot of information. But computers sometimes struggle to distinguish when the data shows something unimportant, like background noise or objects that aren’t stars. With your help, NASA scientists can identify the right targets and delve deeper into the behavior of binary star systems.

“I have never worked as a professional astronomer, but being part of the Eclipsing Binary Patrol project allows me to work with real data and help make real discoveries,” reflects Aline Fornear, a volunteer from Brazil. “I have no words to describe the feeling I feel knowing that my efforts are helping to better understand distant star systems.”

Recreational art sector of the solar system with eclipsing binary stars. (Image: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center)

By participating in the Eclipsing Binary Patrol project, your work will help determine when a certain astronomical object becomes an eclipsing binary, verify its orbital period, and confirm that the object is the true source of the detected eclipses. Your help is vital in distinguishing between a genuine discovery and a false signal.

If you want to collaborate in the project, you can visit their page on the citizen science platform Zooniverse, in this link. (Source: NYT of Amazings)