{"id":208142,"date":"2025-04-30T07:13:53","date_gmt":"2025-04-29T21:13:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/science.nasa.gov\/get-involved\/citizen-science\/how-to-contribute-to-citizen-science-with-nasa\/"},"modified":"2025-04-30T07:13:53","modified_gmt":"2025-04-29T21:13:53","slug":"how-to-contribute-to-citizen-science-with-nasa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=208142","title":{"rendered":"How to Contribute to Citizen Science with NASA"},"content":{"rendered":"
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8 Min Read<\/div>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tHow to Contribute to Citizen Science with NASA\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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A number of NASA projects use mobile phone apps to put satellite data into the palm of your hand, and allow intrepid citizen scientists to upload data.<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNASA<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

A cell phone, a computer\u2014and your curiosity\u2014is all you need to become a NASA citizen scientist and contribute to projects about Earth, the solar system, and beyond.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Science is built from small grains of sand, and you can contribute yours from any corner of the world.<\/p>\n

All you need is a cell phone or a computer with an internet connection to begin a scientific adventure. Can you imagine making a pioneering discovery in the cosmos? Want to help solve problems that could improve life on our planet? Or maybe you dream of helping solve an ancient mystery of the universe? All of this is possible through NASA\u2019s Citizen Science program<\/a>.<\/p>\n

NASA defines citizen science, or participatory science, as \u201cscience projects that rely on volunteers,\u201d said Dr. Marc Kuchner, an astrophysicist and the Citizen Science Officer in the agency\u2019s Science Mission Directorate in Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n

For decades, volunteers have been supporting NASA researchers in different fields and in a variety of ways, depending on the project. They help by taking measurements, sorting data from NASA missions, and deepening our understanding of the universe and our home planet. It all counts.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s science for you: It\u2019s collaborative,\u201d said Kuchner, who oversees the more than 30 citizen science projects NASA offers. \u201cI connect the public and scientists to get more NASA science done.\u201d<\/p>\n

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NASA astrophysicist Marc Kuchner is a pioneer in participatory science and today serves as NASA\u2019s Citizen Science program officer. In 2014, Kuchner created the Disk Detective project, which helps NASA scientists study how planets form. Kuchner has also been the principal investigator for some of the agency\u2019s many citizen science projects, but today he oversees the portfolio and promotes volunteer participation around the world.
Credit: David Friedlander<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

A menu of projects for all tastes<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Citizen scientists can come from anywhere in the world\u2014they do not have to be U.S. citizens or residents. Volunteers help NASA<\/a> look for planets in other solar systems, called exoplanets; sort clouds in Earth\u2019s sky; observe solar eclipses; or detect comets and asteroids. Some of those space rocks are even named after the volunteers who helped find them.<\/p>\n

Mass participation is key in initiatives that require as many human eyes as possible. \u201cThere are science projects that you can\u2019t do without the help of a big team,\u201d Kuchner said. For example, projects that need large datasets from space telescopes\u2014or \u201cthings that are physically big and you need people in different places looking from different angles,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

One example is Aurorasaurus<\/a>, which invites people to observe and classify northern and southern auroras. \u201cWe try to study them with satellites, but it really helps to have people on the ground taking photos from different places at different times,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cPart of the way we serve our country and humankind is by sharing not just the pretty pictures from our satellites, but the entire experience of doing science,\u201d Kuchner said.<\/p>\n

More than 3 million people have participated in the program. Kuchner believes that shows how much people want to be part of what he calls the \u201croller coaster\u201d of science. \u201cThey want to go on that adventure with us, and we are thrilled to have them.\u201d<\/p>\n

The dream of discovering<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u201cYou can help scientists who are now at NASA and other organizations around the world to discover interesting things,\u201d said Faber Burgos, a citizen scientist and science communicator from Colombia. \u201cTruth be told, I\u2019ve always dreamed of making history.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Colombian citizen scientist Faber Burgos studied Modern Languages at the Colombian School of Industrial Careers and has a university degree in Classical Archaeology. Today, he is dedicated to disseminating science content through his social media accounts, focusing on children. In 2020, he and his team launched a balloon probe into the stratosphere with a camera that captured the curvature of the Earth, with the aim of demonstrating that the Earth is round. The video of that feat exceeds 97 million views on his Facebook account, earning him a Guinness World Record.
Credit: Courtesy of Faber Burgos<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Burgos has been involved in two projects for the past four years: the International Astronomical Search Collaboration (IASC)<\/a>, which searches the sky for potentially dangerous asteroids, and Backyard Worlds: Planet 9<\/a>. This project uses data from NASA\u2019s now-completed Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) and its follow-up mission, NEOWISE, to search for brown dwarfs and a hypothetical ninth planet.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are really amazing participants in this project,\u201d said Kuchner, who helped launch it in 2015. NASA\u2019s WISE and NEOWISE missions detected about 2 billion sources in the sky. \u201cSo, the question is: Among those many sources, are any of them new unknowns?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The project has already found more than 4,000 brown dwarfs. These are Jupiter-sized objects\u2014balls of gas that are too big to be planets, but too small to be stars. Volunteers have even helped discover a new type of brown dwarf.<\/p>\n

Participants in the project are also hopeful they\u2019ll find a hypothetical ninth planet, possibly Neptune-sized, in an orbit far beyond Pluto.<\/p>\n

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The Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 citizen science project asks volunteers to help search for new objects at the edge of our solar system. The assignment is to review images from NASA\u2019s past WISE and NEOWISE missions in search of two types of astronomical objects: brown dwarfs(balls of gas the same size as\u00a0 Jupiter that have too little mass to be considered stars) and low-mass stars. Or, even, the hypothetical ninth planet of our Sun, known as Planet nine, or Planet X. The image shows an artist\u2019s rendering of such a hypothetical world orbiting far from the Sun.
Credit: Caltech\/R. Hurt (IPAC)<\/div>\n
Caltech\/R. Hurt (IPAC)<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Burgos explained that analyzing the images is easy. \u201cIf it\u2019s a moving object, it\u2019s obviously going to be something of interest,\u201d he said. \u201cUsually, when you see these images, everything is still. But if there\u2019s an object moving, you have to keep an eye on it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Once a citizen scientist marks the object across the full image sequence, they send the information to NASA scientists to evaluate.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a citizen scientist, I\u2019m happy to do my bit and, hopefully, one day discover something very interesting,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s the beauty of NASA\u2014it invites everyone to be a scientist. Here, it doesn\u2019t matter what you are, but your desire to learn.\u201d<\/p>\n

The first step<\/strong><\/h2>\n

To become a NASA citizen scientist, start by visiting the program\u2019s website<\/a>. There you\u2019ll find a complete list of available projects with links to their respective sites. Some are available in Spanish and other languages<\/a>. Many projects are also hosted on the Zooniverse platform, which has been available since 2006.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnother cool way to get involved is to come to one of our live events,\u201d said Kuchner. These are virtual events open to the public, where NASA scientists present their projects and invite people to participate. \u201cPick a project you like\u2014and if it\u2019s not fun, pick a different one,\u201d he advised. \u201cThere are wonderful relationships to be had if you reach out to scientists and other participants.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Another way for people to get involved in citizen science is to participate in the annual NASA International Space Apps Challenge, the largest global hackathon. This two-day event creates innovation through international collaboration, providing an opportunity for participants to use NASA\u2019s free and open data and agency partners\u2019 space-based data to tackle real-world problems on Earth and in space. The next NASA International Space Apps Challenge will be October 4-5, 2025.
Credit: NASA<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Age is not the limit<\/strong><\/h2>\n

People of all ages can be citizen scientists. Some projects are kid-friendly, such as Nemo-Net, an iPad game that invites participants to color coral reefs to help sort them. \u201cI\u2019d like to encourage young people to start there\u2014or try a project with one of the older people in their life,\u201d Kuchner said.<\/p>\n

Citizen science can also take place in classrooms. In the Growing Beyond Earth project<\/a>, teachers and students run experiments on how to grow plants in space for future missions. The IASC project also works with high schools to help students detect asteroids.<\/p>\n

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A student waters small plants inside a Growing Beyond Earth citizen science project grow box.
Credit: NASA<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Projects by the community, for the community<\/strong><\/h2>\n

GLOBE Observer<\/a> is another initiative with an international network of teachers and students. The platform offers a range of projects\u2014many in Spanish\u2014that invite people to collect data using their cell phones.<\/p>\n

One of the most popular is the GLOBE Mosquito Habitat Mapper, which tracks the migration and spread of mosquitoes that carry diseases. \u201cIt\u2019s a way to help save lives\u2014tracking the vectors that transmit malaria and Zika, among others,\u201d Kuchner said.<\/p>\n

Other GLOBE projects explore everything from ground cover to cloud types. Some use astronomical phenomena visible to everyone. For example, during the 2024 total solar eclipse, participants measured air temperature using their phones and shared that data with NASA scientists.<\/p>\n

The full experience of doing science<\/strong><\/h2>\n

No prior studies are needed, but many volunteers go on to collaborate on\u2014or even lead\u2014scientific research. More than 500 NASA citizen scientists have co-authored scientific publications.<\/p>\n

One of them is Hugo Durantini Luca, from C\u00f3rdoba, Argentina, who has participated in 17 published articles, with more on the way. For years, he explored various science projects, looking for one where he could contribute more actively.<\/p>\n

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Durantini Luca participated in one of NASA\u2019s first citizen science projects, launched in 2006: Stardust at home. Still ongoing, this project invites volunteers to participate in the search for evidence of interstellar dust on the aerogel and aluminum foil collectors returned by NASA\u2019s Stardust mission, using an online virtual microscope.
Credit: NASA<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

He participated in NASA\u2019s first citizen science project, Stardust@home, which invites users to search for interstellar dust particles in collectors from the Stardust mission, using a virtual microscope.<\/p>\n

In 2014, he discovered Disk Detective, a project that searches for disks around stars, where planets may form. By looking at images from the WISE and NEOWISE missions, participants can help understand how worlds are born and how solar systems evolve.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd, incidentally, if we find planets or some sign of life, all the better,\u201d said Durantini Luca.<\/p>\n

Although that remains a dream, they have made other discoveries\u2014like a new kind of stellar disk called the \u201cPeter Pan Disk,\u201d which appears young even though the star it surrounds is not.<\/p>\n

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Durantini Luca participated in one of NASA\u2019s first citizen science projects, launched in 2006: Stardust at home. Still ongoing, this project invites volunteers to participate in the search for evidence of interstellar dust on the aerogel and aluminum foil collectors returned by NASA\u2019s Stardust mission, using an online virtual microscope.
Credit: NASA<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Science in person<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In 2016, Durantini Luca got the chance to support Disk Detective with his own observations from the southern hemisphere. He traveled to El Leoncito Astronomical Complex (CASLEO), an observatory in San Juan, Argentina. There, he learned to use a spectrograph\u2014an instrument that breaks down starlight to analyze its composition.<\/p>\n

He treasures that experience. \u201cCuriously, it was the first time in my life I used a telescope,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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In 2016, citizen scientist Hugo Durantini Luca traveled for 18 hours to the El Leoncito Astronomical Complex (CASLEO), at the foot of the Andes Mountains. From there, he made observations of a candidate star of the Disk Detective project.
Credit: Luciano Garc\u00eda<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

While in-person opportunities are rare, both virtual and physical events help build community. Citizen scientists stay in touch weekly through various channels.<\/p>\n

\u201cSeveral of us are friends already\u2014after so many years of bad jokes on calls,\u201d said Durantini Luca.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople send me pictures of how they met,\u201d said Kuchner. He said the program has even changed how he does science. \u201cIt\u2019s changed my life,\u201d he said. \u201cScience is already cool\u2014and this makes it even cooler.\u201d<\/p>\n

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About the Author<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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NASA Science Editorial Team<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n
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