Executive Committee WG Professional-Amateur Relations in Astronomy

Active projects for amateur astronomers

PARC Welcomes amateur astronomers from around the world who are interested in working with IAU professional astronomers on astronomy research and instrumentation projects to register for any of the active projects listed below. Please note, amateurs may register for more than one project if their time and interest permits.

*Active projects will show here when available

Kilonova Catcher

Project Website

Project Description: Kilonova Catcher is a citizen science program developed by the GRANDMA Collaboration allowing any amateur astronomer to join us in our research efforts and to share with us a common passion for the gravitational wave science and astronomy. A kilonova is produced when two neutron stars — or a neutron star and a black hole — merge, emitting a light which is a thousand times more luminous than a supernova. The Kilonova Catcher program aims at managing the observations in order firstly to localise the source, secondly to characterise its evolution over a few days' time.

Project Category: Other

Dates: 24/May/2023 - 31/Jan/2025

Desired geographical location of amateurs: Anywhere

Observing equipment, hardware, or software needed: Such equipment is needed to take part to the Kilonova Catcher observations: 1. An Internet access with a notification tool connected and ready to alert you (email, slack or project website); 2. An imaging equipment that can reach magnitude ~ 17 to 20; 3. A set of filters such as SDSS filters (gri, g or i at minimum) or Johnson filters (UBVRI, B or I at minimum).

Amateur Astronomers' participation and contribution: Amateur astronomers can contribute to the project thanks to their observations and images uploads on the Kilonova Catcher web application. Concretely, the observation strategy to adopt is as follows: 1. Make successive observation sequences with a «blue» and a «red» filter; 2. Expose as long as it is needed to detect the kilonova in a given field depending on the expected apparent magnitude of the event (communicated to you); 3. Observe several sky regions of your observation plan by order of probability that your images contain the gravitational-wave event (communicated to you); 4. Send your calibrated images as soon as possible using the Kilonova Catcher web application 5. Eventually, think about making revisits of sky regions you previously observed hours ago or on promising transient sources flagged by GRANDMA (communicated to you)

Estimated number of hours per month expected from collaborating amateurs: 18

Will amateur participants be considered joint authors on research publications: Yes

Is funding support available for amateur participants: Possibly

Training provided to the amateur by the professional research team: A fake alert is launched every month to provide training for astronomers. In addition, they have access to a Slack community and to an astronomer guide. A general news meeting is also held once every other month.

Estimated number of amateur collaborators sought: More than 100

Sign up to participate in the project: https://forms.gle/3zcrSqzUqofgg2F96

Photometry and spectroscopy of Betelgeuse (α Ori) during its occultation by 319 Leona on 12/12/2023 (PAST EVENT)

Project Website

Project Description: On December 12, 2023, asteroid 319 Leona will occult Betelgeuse along a very thin band that will pass north of the Mediterranean. This occultation will be exceptional: Leona and Betelgeuse will have almost the same apparent size (~ 50 mas visible). The phenomenon will look more like an (annular) eclipse than a standard occultation. During Leona’s entry and exit from the Betelgeuse disk (which will last only a few seconds), it will be possible to obtain information on the distribution of convective cells on the surface of the star. Why doing such observations since we can obtain an image of the surface of the star by interferometry at the VLTI? The VLTI only observes in infrared (between 1 and 13 µm). Obtaining light curves in visible light (ideally R, G and B bands, or even in a narrow filter Ha), will make it possible to compare the distribution of light on the surface of the star with an infrared observation. This result will be unprecedented since there is no visible light interferometer allowing such an observation to be made. Note, for the experiment to work, it will be imperative to determine the shape of Leona, and for this to also carefully observe the occultations of other stars by Leona, in particular: September 13, October 29, December 30 and 31, 2023. It will therefore be necessary to obtain photometric observations with exposure times of a few tens of milliseconds. With Betelgeuse near magnitude 0, this seems feasible, but it is not possible to predict exactly how bright Betelgeuse will be in the core of the occultation. In addition, it will be necessary to coordinate the observers to distribute the observations according to different filters. To go further, it will also be interesting to obtain visible spectrometry to see if the width of the atomic lines changes during the occultation, which would reveal the velocity distribution of the convective cells on the surface of the star.

Project Category: Optical observing, occultations of stars by asteroids

Dates: 1/Sep/2023 - 12/Dec/2023

Desired geographical location of amateurs: Accross the occultation path, at various positions.

Observing equipment, hardware, or software needed: Short exposure photometry: telescope, fast camera, time box. High spectral resolution spectroscopy: telescope, long slit spectrometer (R=40 000), camera

Amateur Astronomers' participation and contribution: We need amateur astronomer to observe the occultation (light curve, spectroscopy) on various locations to be able to reconstruct the photospheric brightness distribution.

Estimated number of hours per month expected from collaborating amateurs: -

Will amateur participants be considered joint authors on research publications: Yes

Is funding support available for amateur participants: No

Training provided to the amateur by the professional research team: -

Estimated number of amateur collaborators sought: 40-50

Sign up to participate in the project: https://forms.gle/AYtG3XBeaypBqr857

Global Meteor Network

Project Website

Project Description: The Global Meteor Network (GMN) consists of more than 1000 video meteor cameras hosted by amateur astronomers and professionals in 40+ countries across the globe. The network operates as a decentralized science instrument. The GMN’s primary mission is ensuring that no unique space events are missed, such as rare meteor shower outbursts which may endanger satellites and astronauts in space. The network also observes fireballs which drop meteorites to the ground. Observing trajectories of fireballs and recovering the fallen rocks is equivalent to asteroid sample return missions such as Hayabusa-2 and OSIRIS-REX. The meteorites can be analyzed in a lab and help unlock the origin of life and the Solar System. The GMN is run by passionate volunteers from all walks of life. Its open-source software and open data products are operationally used by NASA and several universities. The GMN was recently involved in well-publicized recoveries of meteorites (Winchcombe in the UK, Novo Mesto in Slovenia) where citizen scientists worked side-by-side with professionals, and its results have been published in top scientific journals.

Project Category: Other

Dates: 1/Oct/2018 - 1/Oct/2038

Desired geographical location of amateurs: Globally

Observing equipment, hardware, or software needed: The GMN meteor camera can be build cheaply ($100 - $200 USD) from parts and using the blueprints on our wiki page. All software is free and completely open source.

Amateur Astronomers' participation and contribution: Amateur astronomers will build and host their meteor cameras, keep an eye on the data and meteor shower activity. If their camera captures a meteorite-dropping fireball, they will be involved in the meteorite recovery. They can also contribute code improvements and features, work on publishing analyses and results, and work in developing new instrumentation (fireball radiometers, camera SQM measurements, etc.)

Estimated number of hours per month expected from collaborating amateurs: Flexible. None to full-time.

Will amateur participants be considered joint authors on research publications: Possibly

Is funding support available for amateur participants: No

Training provided to the amateur by the professional research team: We have detailed instructions on our wiki page and multiple video tutorials explaining how to build and maintain the meteor camera, and interpret the data. We have a community forum with many helpful members.

Estimated number of amateur collaborators sought: More than 100

Sign up to participate in the project: https://forms.gle/LHQhJ8sbi9n57SVd7

ACROSS - Asteroid Collaborative Research via Occultation Systematic Survey

Project Website

Project Description: ACROSS aims at diffusing to the community of amateurs reliable predictions and last minute updates of stellar occultations by asteroids, in particular Near Earth Objects and other asteroids requiring specific characterisation. ACROSS events are in general more difficult than the generic occultation campaigns, as they sometimes require to observe very short events on rather faint stars. Also, it requires coordination among the observers to be sure to cover the occultation path.

Project Category: Optical observing, occultations of stars by asteroids

Dates: 1/Oct/2021 - 31/Dec/2033

Desired geographical location of amateurs: anywhere

Observing equipment, hardware, or software needed: From camera lenses (brightest rare events) to large portable telescopes (~40 cm, more in general). Fast camera with absolute timing capabilities.

Amateur Astronomers' participation and contribution: Interested amateur must have an experience (even preliminary) of observation of stellar occultations. They participate to coordinated observations in their areas. If it is possible, they can also decide to travel longer distances with their equipment to support campaigns around favorable events.

Estimated number of hours per month expected from collaborating amateurs: Activity is concentrated around occultation campaigns (a few hors, travel excluded). Amateurs can decide how many campaigns they will participate along the year (from 1 to a few).

Will amateur participants be considered joint authors on research publications: Yes

Is funding support available for amateur participants: Possibly

Training provided to the amateur by the professional research team: Important campaign will include meeting (physically or virtually) to practice the observation, before the event. Instruction and support for the reduction of the collected data, is provided.

Estimated number of amateur collaborators sought: 40-50

Sign up to participate in the project: https://forms.gle/vR8tBhNHVYosjrSB9

HUNTING OUTBURSTING YOUNG STARS (HOYS)

Project Website

Project Description: The HOYS citizen science project works with amateur astronomers on long-term photometric monitoring of young stellar clusters to find outbursting and other interesting objects for detailed follow up as well as the study of star and planet formation processes.

Project Category: Optical observing, variable stars

Dates: 25/Oct/2014 - 25/Oct/2044

Desired geographical location of amateurs: All longitudes are welcome, we lack coverage in america and Asia at the moment

Observing equipment, hardware, or software needed: Nothing specific, any telescope, field of view, camera are usable. All optical broad band filters (+Halpha) are used. Image resolution should be better than three arcseconds.

Amateur Astronomers' participation and contribution: The participants take images of our targets, perform basic data reduction (bias/dark and flat correction) and stacking. they submit the images to our server and process them into our database. We also do recruit people who only help with the data processing on the server, i.e. the help some of the observers with the data processing.

Estimated number of hours per month expected from collaborating amateurs: As much observing time as they like (plus the time it takes for processing - but we have helpers, see above). Every image will be useful.)

Will amateur participants be considered joint authors on research publications: Yes

Is funding support available for amateur participants: No

Training provided to the amateur by the professional research team: There is a full set of training videos on our YouTube channel, as well as FAQs on the website. We further help out via our social media presence and email.

Estimated number of amateur collaborators sought: More than 100

Sign up to participate in the project: https://forms.gle/CmJdSMC4SXuUrMoP9

A highly effective pro-am collaboration for Planetary nebulae discovery and confirmation

Project Website

Project Description: We have undertaken an intensive and coordinated ten-year amateur observational programme designed to uncover and confirm Galactic planetary nebulae (PNe). This was undertaken and led by a dedicated group of largely French amateur astronomers in collaboration with professional colleagues. Over this period this group has uncovered a total of 209 spectroscopically confirmed True, Likely, and Possible Galactic PNe, with the work accelerating over the last three years in particular. These new discoveries represent ~5% of all 3831 True, Likely, and Possible Galactic PNe currently known according to the HASH database as of March 2022. A further 610 PNe candidates are awaiting follow-up. These figures demonstrate the power and value of the amateur community in undertaking a coordinated and focused programme such as this.

Project Category: Other

Dates: 1/Jan/2013 - 1/Jan/2030

Desired geographical location of amateurs: France, Germany, US, UK

Observing equipment, hardware, or software needed: They have already assembled a suite of telescope for both deep narrow band imagery and spectroscopy including an automated site in Chile.

Amateur Astronomers' participation and contribution: The amateur team trawls for PN candidates across extant wide-field narrow-band surveys like the SHS, IPHAS and VPHAS+ but also MIR surveys like WISE. They then follow-up with deeper dedicated narrow band imagery and spectroscopy. The HKU HASH team vett and check all PNe candidates and also do some follow-up confirmatory spectra on larger professional telescopes.

Estimated number of hours per month expected from collaborating amateurs: Varies enormously but can be considerable

Will amateur participants be considered joint authors on research publications: Yes

Is funding support available for amateur participants: Possibly

Training provided to the amateur by the professional research team: Training in techniques, PN recognition and vetting processes etc.

Estimated number of amateur collaborators sought: 10-15

Sign up to participate in the project: https://forms.gle/HNW8LHuCRFV8Nn6v5

Astro-COLIBRI

Project Website

Project Description: Astro-COLIBRI is a platform that centralises alerts of transient and multi-messenger phenomena. Developed by a team at the IRFU / CEA Paris-Saclay (France), it enables professional and amateur astronomers to easily receive alerts based on several criteria of interest. The application can be used via a browser, and is available in iOS and Android versions in the smartphone stores. The data comes from various sources and observatories covering all energy/wavelength ranges (radio, optical, X-rays, gamma rays, etc.) corresponding to as many astrophysical phenomena (GRB, supernova, FRB, GWs, high-energy neutrinos, etc.). Each alert is plotted on the sky and on an observability graph according to the place of observation, with a cone of uncertainty containing alerts previously recorded in this zone. Links to external tools (such as Simbad, Aladin, ESASky, etc.) can be used to obtain more information about the event in question. Astro-COLIBRI therefore enables any amateur follow new detections by professional observatories in real-time and to react quickly to alerts of new transient phenomena in an attempt to identify a counterpart (typically) in the visible spectrum. Provided, of course, that such a counterpart is present in the field of observation and detectable with the instrumentation used. But therein lies the challenge of monitoring such alerts with a good chance of detecting the phenomenon thanks to Astro-COLIBRI.

Project Category: Other

Dates: 1/Aug/2021 - 1/Aug/2030

Desired geographical location of amateurs: -

Observing equipment, hardware, or software needed: -

Amateur Astronomers' participation and contribution: Amateur astronomers use our platform to be informed about new detections of transient phenomena. The main information channel are the realtime notification available via our smartphone apps. Depending on the available equipment, amateur astronomers then participate in the search for multi-wavelenght counterparts to the given transient event. Detections are usually reported back to the community via existing platforms like AAVSO, GCN, ATELs, etc.

Estimated number of hours per month expected from collaborating amateurs: -

Will amateur participants be considered joint authors on research publications: Yes

Is funding support available for amateur participants: No

Training provided to the amateur by the professional research team: We are running yearly workshops ("Astro-COLIBRI multimessenger astrophysics workshops"), we participate in amateur astronomer and Pro-Am meetings, provide tutorials on YouTube, etc. Lots of discussions on social media (e.g. https://twitter.com/AstroColibri).

Estimated number of amateur collaborators sought: More than 100

Sign up to participate in the project: https://forms.gle/RirK1QwDhnLgmmJi8

The Daily Minor Planet

Project Website

Project Description: This project takes images of unvalidated candidate asteroids and presents them to volunteers to decide if they are real moving objects or false detections. New images are processed and uploaded to the project the day after they are taken from our main 1.5m survey telescope, MPC code G96.

Project Category: Optical observing, asteroids

Dates: 16/May/2023 - 1/Jan/2033

Desired geographical location of amateurs: -

Observing equipment, hardware, or software needed: Volunteers only need an internet enabled device such as a computer, tablet, or smartphone.

Amateur Astronomers' participation and contribution: We would appreciate those with experience looking at blinked astronomical images of asteroids to contribute their expertise to the project.

Estimated number of hours per month expected from collaborating amateurs: We have no expectation of dedicated time. Volunteers are encouraged to check back often as the data is refreshed.

Will amateur participants be considered joint authors on research publications: Yes

Is funding support available for amateur participants: No

Training provided to the amateur by the professional research team: A short tutorial is shown when a volunteer first begins looking at the data for validation. It only takes a few minutes and is also available for review at any time.

Estimated number of amateur collaborators sought: More than 100

Sign up to participate in the project: https://forms.gle/XG1isNBjnAKBd7aT9

Ágora (PAST EVENT)

Project Website

Project Description: The Ágora project emerged as a proposal within the “special projects” in support of the IAU100 objectives at the local or national level. It consists of a series of spontaneous, unplanned, short “interventions” carried out by professional and amateur astronomers in public settings, where an astronomy talk is not expected: in the square and the parks, but also in the stations of train, subway or bus. It is proposed as a means of modifying proposals for the general public, based on traditional telescope observations or conferences in special settings. This initiative is also a tribute to the first astronomers, who used to teach outdoors, with no other resources than their hands, their eyes, their voice, and of course their brain.

Project Category: Other

Dates: 9/Jul/2023 - 9/Jul/2024

Desired geographical location of amateurs: -

Observing equipment, hardware, or software needed: -

Amateur Astronomers' participation and contribution: As the project has as main objectives: * Present presets on astronomy in non-traditional fields. * Surprise audiences not always reached by astronomical themes. * Advance on “public roads” as a space to talk about science. * Engage millions of people across the country. * Recreate the communication of science with the public in the same public space, in the manner of the Greek philosophers. The amateurs contribution on the Planet could be very significative, the project does not requires special instruments or instllations, just to know about Astronomy.

Estimated number of hours per month expected from collaborating amateurs: about 20

Will amateur participants be considered joint authors on research publications: Yes

Is funding support available for amateur participants: No

Training provided to the amateur by the professional research team: We will prepare a series of face to face and online encounters and events to transmit the info about the project and to share the methodology and dynamics that we propose.

Estimated number of amateur collaborators sought: More than 100

Sign up to participate in the project: https://forms.gle/8zrknFRYfbxxHC1C8

The Deeper, Wider, Faster program

Project Website

Project Description: The Deeper, Wider, Faster program (DWF) coordinates over 100 major telescopes operating at all wavelengths and messengers located on every continent and in space to detect and study fast transients (milliseconds-to-days duration). Twice a year, for 6 consecutive days, DWF coordinates 10-15 of the world's most sensitive wide-field radio, mm, infrared, optical, UV, X-ray, gamma-ray telescopes and high-energy particle detectors to take deep, wide-field, fast-cadenced observations of the same fields at the same time. These data are processed and analysed for transients in real-time (seconds-to-minutes) in our Mission Control room to trigger DWF-program rapid-response follow-up deep spectroscopy and imaging at various wavelengths on 8m-class optical telescopes, radio telescope arrays, and space telescopes. Conventional (hours to days later) spectroscopy and imaging are also triggered. Finally, and importantly, the fields are monitored globally intra-day and over several weeks for luminosity and colour evolution, as some fast transients are associated with slower-evolving events (for example, supernova shock breakouts). The latter capability would greatly benefit from amateur observations. Although our real-time optical observations are quite deep (performed with CTIO DECam or Subaru Hyper Suprime-Cam and reach depths of m ~ 23-24 in the 20-30s exposures taken continuously during the night) and a bright object saturation of about m ~ 15, we also detect brighter transients and transients early in their evolution that become brighter later on. Amateur optical telescope capability for the program brighter events, however, would still need to be ~0.4m diameter telescopes or larger. Amateurs with infrared detectors would be highly welcome as well. DWF radio observations have been with Parkes, ASKAP, MeerKAT, VLA, Molonglo, and MWA. Amateur radio participation is unlikely, as single dish telescopes would need to have fast radio burst detection capabilities.

Project Category: Other

Dates: 14/Jan/2015 - 31/Dec/2026

Desired geographical location of amateurs: Any, as we need observations from all over the globe. However, the program more often targets fields in the Southern Hemisphere.

Observing equipment, hardware, or software needed: Large (~0.4m or larger) telescopes with wide-field or narrow-field optical or infrared imagers and ugriz or BVRI filters and/or spectrographs.

Amateur Astronomers' participation and contribution: Amateurs will be contacted (or can contact us) on the next upcoming coordinated observational run and the targeted fields. Those with wide-field imaging capability can get data before, during and after the runs and those with narrow-field imagers and/or spectrographs will be supplied transient targets identified by the program to target during the 6-consecutive day run (that occurs ~2x per year) through up to 4-5 weeks later. All amateurs will be instructed regarding data acquisition details, including data format, transfer, etc.

Estimated number of hours per month expected from collaborating amateurs: -

Will amateur participants be considered joint authors on research publications: Yes

Is funding support available for amateur participants: Possibly

Training provided to the amateur by the professional research team: There will be training regarding the observations needed for the program, including data format, transfer and storage, and the aims of the program (to help guide their observations), but limited training available for operations specific to their (various) telescopes.

Estimated number of amateur collaborators sought: 10-15

Sign up to participate in the project: https://forms.gle/xYBh5m4TLVerGn8G7

PVOL

Project Website

Project Description: PVOL is a database of amateur observations of Solar System Planets and stands for Planetary Virtual Observatory and Laboratory. The database contains observations provided by amateur observers and is regularly consulted by astronomers active in the study of the atmospheres of Solar System planets.

Project Category: Other

Dates: 1/Jan/2003 - 31/Dec/2035

Desired geographical location of amateurs: Observers all through the world.

Observing equipment, hardware, or software needed: Telescope, Barlow lenses, CCD video camera, image processing software like Autostakkert, Registax and WinJupos

Amateur Astronomers' participation and contribution: PVOL stands for Planetary Virtual Observatory and Laboratory and is a searchable database of ground-based observations of solar system planets. The images are made available by amateur astronomers and are used for research purposes by several professional and amateur teams and for astronomy popularization. The images are an important resource for astronomical research and have been used in a large number of scientific publications (a partial list is available in the Publications tag in the PVOL website). Images can be uploaded by registered participants or submitted by e-mail to: [email protected]. Images need to incorporate the date and UT time with at least a minute precission. Images of low quality /low spatial resolution might not be uploaded.

Estimated number of hours per month expected from collaborating amateurs: -

Will amateur participants be considered joint authors on research publications: Yes

Is funding support available for amateur participants: No

Training provided to the amateur by the professional research team: PVOL images are contributed by more than 350 individuals. Questions can be directed to [email protected]. We cannot provide specific training.

Estimated number of amateur collaborators sought: More than 100

Sign up to participate in the project: https://forms.gle/UQ4HUYbQ5KHXJFMu8

Spanish Fireball and Meteorite Recovery Network (SPMN-CSIC)

Project Website

Project Description: The SPMN is a multidisciplinary research project born in 1997 acting as professional-amateur #ProAm collaboration that seeks to promote the study of interplanetary matter in Spain with the goal to recover meteorites. The Institute of Space Sciences (ICE-CSIC) coordinates the meteor and fireball detection cameras of professional and amateur observatories in order to estimate the origin of the rocks in the Solar System that produce such luminous phenomena. Scientific publications in the first quartile are obtained of that collaboration, often with dedicated amateurs as coauthors of them: http://www.spmn.uji.es/ESP/ICE_Meteorite_group.html. The Spanish Meteorite Recovery Network (SPMN-CSIC) studies interplanetary matter penetrating the Earth's atmosphere and producing meteors, or the much brighter fireballs. From the astrometric trajectory reconstruction of the fireball obtained from the monitoring stations, an atmospheric trajectory is computed solving the method of intersection of planes. Then, taking into account the effect of the atmospheric wind on the final dark flight, the possible falling areas are computed with the goal to recover fresh meteorites for direct study in our ICE-CSIC laboratories. From multiple-station meteor and fireball observations we are currently obtaining detailed information on meteor showers and fireball events over Spain and bordering countries. Amateur astronomers are also participating in the SPMN network coverage with specific observing programs. Our main aim is to increase the knowledge on meteoroid interaction with the atmosphere, learn more about the dynamical mechanisms of meteoroid delivery to the Earth, and about the role that primitive bodies had on the origin of life in the Earth. Our interdisciplinary team is studying these problems from all possible approaches, including the mineralogical and chemical study of primitive chondrites. We are looking for young researchers with interest to continue studies on meteorites and related fields in Spain. Up to now, the SPMN-CSIC network has promoted the recovery of three meteorites: the L6 chondrite Villalbeto de la Peña (2004), the eucrite Puerto Lapice (2007) and the L5 chondrite Traspena (2022). The network is still growing at a good rate with fundings received from our different research projects, and public funds. In 2023 the network has more than 50 video and CCD stations monitoring the atmosphere for bright fireballs occurred over Portugal, Spain, north of Morocco and south of France https://www.ice.csic.es/news/citizen-science/2-uncategorised/347-spmn-list-of-observers. This research project is integrated by researchers of several universities and research centers, such as: Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Institut d'Estudis Espacials de Catalunya (IEEC), Institut d'Estudis Catalans (IEC), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha (UCLM), Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM) y la Universitat de València (UV).

Project Category: Citizen science (analysis of large data sets in the public domain or provided by the project leader)

Dates: 1/Jan/1997 - 1/Jan/2060

Desired geographical location of amateurs: Continental and insular Spain and neighbouring countries

Observing equipment, hardware, or software needed: Digital (CCD) and sensor-based video cameras. Meteor/fireball recordings could be saved on a HSD or directly to a PC. From a PC the detections are communicated/submitted to be stored in the SPMN-CSIC Fireball Database

Amateur Astronomers' participation and contribution: Each amateur set up a video monitoring station under our guidance. In principle, anyone can start by only one camera covering 1/4th of the night sky. Additional cameras can be also installed at each station with the goal of monitoring the entire sky (day and night).

Estimated number of hours per month expected from collaborating amateurs: Selected video cameras already detect and save every meteor recording, so the only needed is about one hour per week to submit the detections to our CSIC database

Will amateur participants be considered joint authors on research publications: Yes

Is funding support available for amateur participants: No

Training provided to the amateur by the professional research team: Basic guidelines, and literature initially, but after first tests they are incorporated in an e-mail list where they receive guidelines, additional support and teachings to classify meteors to their radiants.

Estimated number of amateur collaborators sought: 30-40

Sign up to participate in the project: https://forms.gle/1RsueRxg7EPRWfAg6