Links from my "astronomy data talk"

From May 2021 -- Data Umbrella talk: the slides.

From March 2018 -- a version of the talk aimed at amateur astronomers: slides (pdf) and screencapture movie.

Citizen Science opportunities

Web-based projects

Originally grabbed from here, which has a much better (if possibly dated) list, with a description for each project.

These programs all involve the use of real data on the forefront of astronomical research, but are "packaged" so as to make accessing the real data far more easy (e.g., entirely web browser-based) than it might be otherwise. These projects are a great way to start to get into real data. Many offer "hooks" to get into the research questions at a deeper level when you are ready. Many have lesson plans ready-to-go -- by which I mean, lessons you can do yourself, or if you are an educator, you can use in a classroom or after school setting. Some may have shut down while others have started.

Even Bigger Projects

Things that need more of a time commitment, e.g., your own observatory (not a 3-inch Walmart telescope, but not a 3.5 meter either):

Astronomical imaging

Major US Astronomy Archives

There are other archives for planetary data (there are several); and archives housing data from Canada, Europe, India, and Asia assets ... Two of the most famous archives are based in France: SIMBAD and VizieR. SIMBAD is mostly object-driven, e.g., type in an object's name or RA/Dec and find out what is known about that object, with links to journal articles. VizieR gives you fast access to ~16,000 different published data tables.

Some IRSA tools

Also see Astrometry.net -- this is what you can use to attach coordinates to any image you yourself have taken that has enough stars in it.

Planetary data

Learning astronomy

Finally...

Are you a classroom high school educator who wants to do real research? Check out NITARP -- applications available annually in May or June for the class operating the following calendar year.


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Last substantially modified May 2021 by rebull
Any opinions expressed here are well-reasoned and insightful, but in no way reflect those of NASA, JPL, Caltech, or IPAC. No electrons were harmed in the creation of these pages.