The Sun is a living, breathing star. It is active, dynamic and ever-changing just like us.
Its influence can be felt in every aspect of society from agriculture and economics, to arts and culture, as well as the physical, mental and emotional health of human beings. The Sun touches everything. And to highlight the importance of our extraordinarily ordinary star, NASA is hosting the Heliophysics Big Year. Beginning with the annular solar eclipse in October of 2023, continuing with a total solar eclipse in April of 2024, and ending with Parker Solar Probe’s closest approach to the Sun in December of 2024, the Heliophysics Big Year is a global celebration of solar science and the Sun's influence on everything. Throughout this time, the public and the scientific community can engage their curiosity in these natural phenomena as a coupled system of the Sun and Earth. They will also gain a better understanding of space weather and its impacts on Earth, as well as how the heliophysics mission fleet can mitigate those impacts. Studying these complex systems helps us better understand our universe, including our solar system, distant stars, exoplanets, and our search for life on other planets.
In this session, we will share the extraordinary research opportunities, coinciding with the increase of reach and scale of citizen science, and how this sets the stage for the public to have a Big Year with Heliophysics. By engaging the public to greatly advance our understanding of the sun, how it affects life on Earth, citizen science is one tool to enable diverse participation in Heliophysics research. The Heliophysics Big Year ties together these major Heliophysics events to maximize participation in a coordinated incentivized citizen science campaign.
The campaign borrows from the birding Big Year concept where birders vow to see as many species as possible within a specific geographic area in a given year. Similarly, the Heliophysics Big Year will connect people who want to embark on a personal quest to be curious about Heliophysics through participating in monthly activities and doing citizen science.
In addition to highlighting the thriving community of citizen science projects gearing up for Heliophysics Big Year, we will solicit feedback regarding future plans, how other disciplines can connect to the campaign, and best practices for ensuring inclusion and equity throughout the process.
Supplementary URL: https://science.nasa.gov/heliophysics/programs/citizen-science
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