Crowdsourcing the Universe…
…well, some of it at any rate. Optical physicist and astronomer Olivier Guyon, one of the 2012 MacArthur fellows has announced his intention to crowdsource planet hunting and is planning to devote some of his fellowship funds to that purpose.
Getting the public and amateur astronomers involved in out-of-this world activities has a long and healthy track record. Think, Galaxy Zoo which asks people to identify the shapes of galaxies, and SETIlive.org that lets participants search for possible cosmic neighbors.
But there’s plenty more space out there to be explored.
“In the last two years, I’ve been working on how to make this technique affordable and easy for amateur astronomers, schools, and the general public, to actually implement in their back yard,” said Guyon in a video interview discussing his fellowship.
“I’m really hoping that in the next few years, I can help others to use the technique to discover planets and to engage the public and amateur astronomers into actual scientific research.”
Anyone can be a Planet Hunter
Astronomers identify exoplanets by looking at the brightness of stars. A periodic dip in the luminosity of a star suggests that a planet has just crossed in front of it. Guyon wants participants to go out and take quality images of the night sky and to collect and share information in a huge open-source database.
One potential stumbling block that could stymie efforts is a problem familiar to many crowdsourcing initiatives and that’s how to keep participants motivated and engaged once the first rush of excitement has died down.
Guyon hopes to incentivize the crowd, for example with a tour of his lab for top submitters, as the lure of finding a new planet, even one that could harbor life will not be enough motivation to keep everyone involved long-term.
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