Telescope Reviews: Public Invited to Help Resolve a Stellar Mystery

In addition to the AAVSO IYA press release below,
there is an accompanying video:
http://www.citizensky.org/content/media-room

Cheers, Andrea

Date: Mon, 24 Aug 2009 15:48:33 -0400
Subject: AAVSO: Citizen Sky Invites Public to Help Resolve a Stellar
Mystery
From: rick.fienberg@aas.org

THE FOLLOWING RELEASE WAS RECEIVED FROM THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF
VARIABLE STAR OBSERVERS IN CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, AND IS FORWARDED
FOR YOUR INFORMAITON. (FORWARDING DOES NOT IMPLY ENDORSEMENT BY THE
AMERICAN ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY.) Rick Fienberg, American Astronomical
Society: rick.fienberg@aas.org, 1-857-891-5649.

August 24, 2009

Contacts:
Rebecca Turner
AAVSO
1-617-354-0484
rebecca@aavso.org

Arne Henden
AAVSO
1-617-354-0484
arne@aavso.org

Robert Stencel
University of Denver
1-303-871-2135
rstencel@du.edu

REACH FOR THE CITIZEN SKY

This fall 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” at
www.CitizenSky.org.

Epsilon Aurigae is a bright star that can be seen with the unaided eye
even in bright urban areas of the Northern Hemisphere from fall to
spring. This fall 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.

“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).

Supported by a three-year grant from the National Science Foundation,
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.

“Citizen 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 and is a type of ‘dark
matter’ in that we indirectly detect its presence but 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. 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,” Dr.
Bob added.

Citizen Sky is a collaboration of the AAVSO, Denver University, Adler
Planetarium and Astronomy Museum, Johns Hopkins University, and the
California Academy of Sciences. The United Nations and the United
States Congress have both endorsed 2009 as the International Year of
Astronomy (IYA). Citizen Sky was developed as part of the coordinated
United States’ IYA effort.

# # #

The AAVSO (www.aavso.org) is one of the oldest citizen science
organizations in the United States. It has been training and
coordinating amateur astronomers since 1911. Their database of
variable star brightness estimates includes over 18 million
observations of over 8,000 stars. They currently have around 1,200
active observers located in 45 countries. They also publish the
Journal of the AAVSO, a professionally-reviewed publication in which
amateur astronomers can publish research papers.

Two images are available for use in media reports relating to the
Citizen Sky project. They are available in high resolution (300 dpi)
at:
http://www.CitizenSky.org/content/media-room

Caption 1: An artistic representation by Citizen Sky participant Nico
Camargo of the epsilon Aurigae system as seen at low inclination.
Credit 1: www.CitizenSky.org / Nico Camargo

Caption 2: An artistic representation by Citizen Sky participant Brian
Thieme of the epsilon Aurigae system as seen at high inclination and
from within the system.
Credit 2: www.CitizenSky.org / Brian Thieme