published: Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Wanted: People who like to keep an eye on the sky

By REBECCA TURNER

Special to the News-Sun

This summer a bright star will begin a puzzling transformation that only happens every 27 years. To help study this event, astronomers have launched a new citizen science project called "Citizen Sky."

Epsilon Aurigae is a bright star that can be seen with the unaided eye even in very light-polluted areas of the northern hemisphere from fall to spring.

Late this summer, it is predicted to gradually lose half its brightness until early winter. It will remain faint during all of 2010 before slowly regaining its normal brightness by the summer of 2011.

Since its discovery in 1821, the cause of this dip in brightness has remained a mystery to astronomers, but this time they have a powerful new resource to help study the upcoming event -- thousands of citizen scientists, all coordinated via the Internet.

"This star is too bright to be observed with the vast majority of professional telescopes, so this is another area where public help is needed," said Dr. Arne Henden, director of the American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO).

Citizen Sky will recruit, train, and coordinate public participation in this project.

What makes this project different from previous citizen science projects is its emphasis on participation in the full scientific method. Participants are not being asked simply to collect data, they will also be trained to analyze data, create and test their own hypotheses and to write papers for publication in professional astronomy journals.

Participants can work alone on all phases of the project or they can focus on one stage and team up with others.

Ctizen science can be much more than data collection. Participants often have real-world experience and/or advanced degrees in areas that can be applied to astronomy.

"Our goal is to introduce the public to authentic science and at the same time use this talent to help astronomers," Henden said.

The lead astronomer for this project is Dr. Robert Stencel, the William Herschel Womble Professor of Astronomy at Denver University.

Dr. Bob, as the amateur astronomy community knows him, studied the last event in 1982-84 while working at NASA.

"This is truly an amazing star system. It contains both a supergiant star and a mysterious companion. If the supergiant was in our solar system, its diameter would extend to Earth, engulfing us," Stencel said.

The companion only makes its presence known every 27 years. It is a type of dark matter, which means that its presence can be indirectly detected but scientists don't know what it is.

"To make things even more fun, we also have some evidence of a substantial mass, perhaps a large planet, spiraling into the mysterious dark companion object," Stencel said. "Observations during the upcoming eclipse will be key to understanding this and predicting what will happen if the putative planet does eventually fall into the star."

"Citizen science participants can be of all ages. It is interesting to note that the scientific method is a major concept in the Florida Sunshine Standards for science and is tested on the Florida Comprehensive Achievement Test," said Christopher Stephan, Ed Specialist at Riverwoods Field Lab.

Stephan also teaches science at Avon Park Middle School.

"I plan on using this project as a teaching tool for my secondary science students at Riverwoods," Stephan said. "My own son Andrew began observing variable stars at age nine and submitted these observations to astronomers."

Highlands County residents are encoraged to participate in the Citizen Science Program.

Riverwoods Field Lab, part of the Center for Environmental Studies at Florida Atlantic University, will be teaching their overnight student classes how to become citizen scientists and participate in this project on Epsilon Aurigae.

For more information on the Citizen Sky program in the Heartland, please contact Stephan at rcobservatory@embarqmail.com.

The first Citizen Sky workshop is being held in Chicago at the Adler Planetarium August 5-7, 2009. In attendance will be professional and amateur astronomers, as well as educators from all over the US and Canada and beyond.

Stephan will be teaching one of the workshops entitled "Visual Observing of Epsilon Aurigae: The Art of Variable Star Observing".

"My goal is to teach other educators to teach their students how to be Citizen Scientists," Stephan said.

Rebecca Turner is with the American Associaton of Variable Star Obervers in Cambridge, Mass.