As I write this there are astronauts orbiting the Earth on a mission to re-service the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). A while ago I was very worried Hubble would not get this stay of execution as its systems would slowly degrade and die over time. I feared the Columbia tragedy and International Space Station had removed all available funds from NASA’s bank account never to be made available to anything else. But those fears are gone and I’m now looking forward to a Hubble that will be back and better than ever.

You can watch the ongoing refit through links on the NASA website.

Hubble Space Telescope.
[photograph © copyright NASA Images]

The very bright people at NASA basically not only made an amazing space telescope but also had the foresight to put it in an orbit around the Earth which the Space Shuttle could reach. This means as the march of technology progresses, each Hubble refit makes the overall package worth all the trouble in the first place. Reading through the shiny bits of kit intended for the HST it’s hard not to get excited what the new Wide Field Camera (WFC) and Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS) won’t be able to shed extra light on after you consider what the older gear has already given us.

In the end the refurbished telescope will be significantly better than previously. New instruments, upgraded instruments, fixing instruments, better steering and more power are all on the cards. It’s surprising to hear that the Astronauts are not planning on also adding a spoiler and a fetching ‘go faster’ stripe along the side.

It’s very exciting to think of all the new science that will be investigated with the upgraded system but I am mostly looking forward to the new pictures that it will provide. After all is said and done it’s the pictures for the public that give the best reason for the servicing mission. It is rare that an instrument gives us all such a vivid appreciation of the complex and elegant Universe we all inhabit. There are so many examples that deserve highlighting but Hubble’s Deep Field Image, I believe, is the finest since it is the best explanation of why I am so fascinated with the natural world. I encourage everyone who hasn’t seen it to look it up, and everyone who has to do so again.

Each speck on the image, each pixel of colour belongs to a galaxy which contains millions of stars

For those of you who have no understanding of what I’m going on about it’s an Image taken by the HST of a dark and small bit of sky which reveals a mosaic of far and ancient galaxies. This picture isn’t an artist’s impression; this is what we would see if we had good enough eyes. Each speck on the image, each pixel of colour belongs to a galaxy which contains millions of stars, most of which are not too dissimilar from our own Sun. It is a favourite of mine. It gives me some appreciation of what could be out there and it compels me to take the steps to find out. As I sit here tapping away in what may be a non coherent way all I can think of is how glad I am that the Hubble Space Telescope is getting that refit.

Also, the European Space Agency (ESA) is not to be outdone. It has recently launched two space telescopes named Herschel and Planck. Both of these telescopes give us extra information beyond what Hubble can do alone and Planck in particular is looking for the left over remnants of the big bang. I think the ESA director general, Jean-Jacques Dordain, describes the reason for the telescopes quite nicely so I’ll end this blog with a quote from him.

“Herschel and Planck will enable us to go very far back in time, to the origins of our Universe and it is only by better understanding our Universe’s overall past that we can help to better define the future of our planet, the Earth, not as a self-standing celestial body but as an integral part of the whole system,”

About the author

Andrew Morris is currently studying for a PhD at the Planetary and Space Sciences Research Institute (PSSRI) sited at the Open University working with a co-sponsoring company in developing instrumentation for terrestrial and non-terrestrial applications. Previous to this he undertook a master’s degree in Physics with Space Science and Technology at the University of Leicester.

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Environmental issues are continually coming to the forefront of the attention of the public and government. Awareness of the challenges facing biodiversity and its potential to compromise the future of humankind have meant an ever-increasing demand on scientists to produce reliable analysis. However, obtaining data for sound analysis over a large geographic scale is intensive work and requires a large amount of time and effort. One solution is to draft in even more people to help scientists' work in the field. And this is where citizen scientists come in, to act as a bridge between scientists and data in the field.

Broadly used, "citizen scientist" refers to a lay person, normally resident in the vicinity of research sites and involved in scientific research. Often, the citizen scientists will not have received formal academic training in the discipline concerned but are trained on the job. They are also often involved in such projects because they are actively interested. Their role is to monitor collected data and to transfer it to managing scientists. This can be done in person or by post, and often was in the past; but with advances in technology it is increasingly being done over the internet.

The participation of citizen scientists in biodiversity monitoring approaches is important for two main reasons. Foremost, it often allows scientists to accomplish research objectives more feasibly, that is in terms of labour and time cost, than would otherwise be possible. In addition, citizen science projects promote public engagement with the particular research, as well as with science in general. This engagement will help people to be more aware and to take ownership of the results and it will empower them to understand global changes in their environment.

Citizen Science projects

There are several examples of citizen scientist projects in the world. Some of the oldest ones dealt with birds for example, a Christmas bird count by the Audubon Society which has been going on for over a century. There also is Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology’s work (University of Cornell) as well as that of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) here in the UK. More recently, the scope and scale has expanded. For example, localised monitoring of insects in Papua New Guinea (Parataxonomist Training Centre); the global water quality survey by the World Water Monitoring Day project and wild flowers in South Africa (Custodians of Rare and Endangered Wildflowers).

There are always new projects coming up with the progress of time, research focus and availability of technology. 

Citizen Scientists monitoring Snakes-head Fritillary (Fritillaria meleagris), Cricklade North Meadow, Wilts.
[image Yoseph Araya © copyright Yoseph Araya]

Does this work?

The answer is a resounding "Yes".  A number of scientific publications have been, and still are, dependent on data collected by citizen scientists. Some often make it to prestigious journals like Science (a classic case is that of the peppered moth, Cooke et al., 1986, 231: 611-613) and Nature (eg Novotny et al. Nature, 2007, 448: 692-695). On a practical level, citizen scientists have helped discover new species, and update the range and conservation status of other species (eg CREW in South Africa). Even when data is not used right now, it is very likely to be of importance in the future (for example, for long term trend monitoring). There is often a legitimate concern about the quality of data, but this can be minimised by taking all precautionary measures and post-collection vetting.

Involving researchers in raising awareness among the public also pays dividends in the form of appreciation and ownership of research. For example, work by paraecologists in Namibia has given researchers feedback on local community research needs and concerns (BIOTA-Africa).

Can you become a citizen scientist?

Definitively yes. The key thing is to find what you are passionate about and then link up with researchers in that field. Often there are projects aimed at involving citizens, and this is by far the easiest way to get involved. For example, the Open University is currently running a project on the evolution of the garden snail (Evolution Megalab). Other useful links are the Open Air Laboratories consortium, based at the Natural History Museum and the Phenology Network of the Woodlands Trust.

Overall, citizen science is gaining increased interest and credibility from both the public and the scientific community. So it is high time to go out and get involved.

Useful links:

Citizen Science at the Open University

Floodplain Meadows Partnership

BBC Citizen Science

* Please note, I am only discussing citizen science from the view point of ecology, my main discipline. However citizen science is applicable to others and has been used in fields as diverse as astronomy and computing!

About the author

Dr Yoseph Araya is a plant ecologist and associate lecturer at the Open University. He works on the biology and conservation of South African fynbos vegetation. Environmental education and the role of the public in research is one of his key interests.

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As well as my PhD I do work on a student project called ESMO (European Student Moon Orbiter). It’s actually something I’ve blogged about before.

The project is ticking along nicely and I’ve been consistently involved over the last two and a half years. I have even taken a stint as team leader which I have recently had to step down from to concentrate on tying up my PhD. 

Every now and then the team gets asked if they can help out at an event to publicise science in some form or another. This happened last week as someone within the department was organising a school trip to coincide with british science week and they asked if one of us could pop along to talk about the project. I said yep and so yesterday I spent the morning giving a talk to about 200 science students (they ranged from Yr9 to Yr12) about the ESMO project and what our team does to keep ourselves busy.

All in all I reckon it went pretty well. I’ve given talks to school children before but this was the first time I have ‘played away’ and went to the school to give the talk. I have to admit the day before the trip I was a bit nervous as to how the talks would go. I remembered all the nightmare lessons we gave our teachers at school and just hoped that wasn’t going to happen to me as I tried to explain, in sometimes a roundabout way, what science questions we are trying to answer through ESMO. I am certain the main reason it went as well as it did was because of the teachers. Each one was distinctly different in their teaching but all were friendly and engaging. Sorting out events like we did yesterday can’t be easy for them and I can only imagine it adds to an already hectic workload.

Classroom.
[image © copyright Photos.com]

It was quite eye opening to return to a school and view the whole thing as someone who was standing at the front of the class. I have a couple of friends that are teachers and I know from talking to them that teaching is much more than a nine to five job. Often they work until midnight every weekday to make sure lesson plans are made, books are marked and extra paper work is completed. Even though I know they have to do that much work it never really dawned on me until yesterday how much is done within every lesson as well.

I hear the government has come up with a nifty little plan. They have figured out with the problems in banking there are now lots of people who are good at Maths looking for work. They also see that there is a massive lack of Maths and Science teachers and so they have proposed training to become a teacher within 6 months for the best and brightest. That seems really ambitious to me. Some may find it perfectly natural to slip into the vocation of teaching but most, I suspect, would tear their hair out at the whirlwind of the classroom.

The truth is that very few people debate the worth of teachers. The best educate and inspire young people to become massively productive and interesting people. I just hope that in a workplace with increasing workload and increasing pressures that any answer to how the situation is addressed is a sustainable one.

About the author

Andrew Morris is currently studying for a PhD at the Planetary and Space Sciences Research Institute (PSSRI) sited at the Open University working with a co-sponsoring company in developing instrumentation for terrestrial and non-terrestrial applications. Previous to this he undertook a master’s degree in Physics with Space Science and Technology at the University of Leicester.

Subscribe to Andrew Morris's posts