Project Update

It has been a while, so I thought I’d update everyone on a few components of the Citizen Sky Project.

The website continues to grow with more and more content and features being added.  Very shortly you will be able to submit and view your own data via the Citizen Sky website (under the “Data” menu.)  After that our wonderful web developer, Kate, will start to work on activating the team section of the site.  Go read the overview if you haven’t heard about the Citizen Sky Team concept!

The 10 Star Training Tutorial was updated a couple of weeks ago with new graphics and modified instructions for submitting data.   Aaron Price has hosted a couple of online chats in recent weeks: one on epsilon Aurigae with Dr. Bob, and one on photometry with Dr. Arne Henden.  Chats on beginning visual observing and spectroscopy are planned for the coming weeks, so stay tuned for announcements.  The forums are also up and running now - stop by make a post!

We have been hard at work organizing the first Citizen Sky Workshop to be held next month at the Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum in Chicago.  All workshop sessions will be videotaped and posted on the Citizen Sky website.  Take a look at the updated schedule to see all of the talks that will be available online.  We have assembled a strong group of nation-wide workshop participants who will return home after the workshop and begin recruiting new Citizen Sky members!

Our flagship Citizen Sky Team has been hard at work developing a variable star data analysis tool called VStar, which will be unveiled in early August.  The team leader, David Benn - a volunteer professional software engineer, will be giving a presentation on using VStar at the Chicago workshop. (Again, presentations will be posted online after the workshop.)

A professional video producer will be volunteering his skills and producing an HD video about the project (to be filmed during the Chicago workshop.)  I am sure it will make my homemade webcam video seem like a cave painting! ☺  Also, we have a Chicago artist volunteering his time and talent to develop scientifically accurate illustrations of epsilon Aurigae. We look forward to sharing the results of these creative endeavors with you!

The Citizen Sky Media Room is filling up with blogs, podcasts, and newspaper articles featuring Citizen Sky.

Last but not least as Dr. Bob mentioned in his post earlier today, there is evidence that epsilon Aurigae’s eclipse has started.  Who knows what we will discover about this mysterious variable during its eclipse over the next couple of years, but we are thrilled to have you all on board for the journey!