NEWS
Shawn Carlson Featured in Emmy-Nominated TV Program
Society for Amateur Scientists Executive Director Shawn Carlson recently appeared in a television program for children that has been nominated for an Emmy. According to Executive Producer Sunmee Choi, the clip with Dr. Shawn at the SciTech Museum was the first of three in the video tape submitted to the nominating committee. In a message to Shawn, Ms. Choi wrote, "It's very important to get the people's attention within the first couple of minutes into a DVD, and, boy, you and the gang got their attention alright!"
Society for Amateur Scientists Community Forum is Down
The SAS Community Forum will be down for a month or so as changes are made to the server. Meanwhile, you can post items related to amateur science on Facebook. (See the following news story.)
Society for Amateur Scientists on Facebook
Reggie Smith, a graduate of MIT and a contributor to The Citizen Scientist, has begun a Facebook page for the Society for Amateur Scientists.
"Citizen Science" Blog
Raymund John Ang has begun Citizen Science, a blog devoted to various aspects of citizen and amateur science. (You can see his announcement on the SAS Facebook page above.) Topics thus far include setting up a home lab, observing sunspots, types of citizen scientists and the Society for Amateur Scientists.
Raymund is an amateur astronomer, and you can see his report and images of the total lunar eclipse of 28 August 2007 at the web site of the Astronomical League of the Philippines. You can see his Facebook astronomy page here.
The Galaxy Zoo is Looking for Collaborators
One of the largest amateur science projects is Galaxy Zoo, which has involved more than 150,000 participants in helping identify galaxies photographed by a Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) robotic telescope. Participating in the project, which involves classifying some 250,000 galaxy images, is simple, and guidelines are provided here.
The GalileoscopeTM Challenge
The Optical Society of America (OSA) has announced the Galileoscope Challenge. According to the announcement, the purpose of the challenge is to recognize the International Year of Astronomy by raising "... funds to purchase and distribute thousands of high-powered telescope kits to students around the world. Special priority will be given to students from developing nations and underrepresented communities." A donation of $26 will provide an easily assembled telescope kit.
According to the announcement, "The GalileoscopeTM is a high-quality, low-cost telescope kit developed by a team of leading astronomers, optical engineers, and science educators. No matter where you live, with this easy-to-assemble, 50-mm (2-inch) diameter, 25- to 50-power achromatic refractor, you can see the celestial wonders that Galileo Galilei first glimpsed 400 years ago and that still delight stargazers today. These include lunar craters and mountains, four moons circling Jupiter, the phases of Venus, Saturn's rings, and countless stars invisible to the unaided eye."
Donations can be made here.
News Wanted! News stories about general science are available at thousands of web sites. The Citizen Scientist publishes news stories specifically about amateur and citizen scientists and opportunities and products that will interest them. If you are aware of such news, please send details here. Of special interest are photographs and interviews with successful amateur scientists that can be published as feature stories in TCS. Editor.
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The Citizen Scientist (06 November 2009).
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