Smart telescopes offer a 'transformative' experience for citizen scientists
![Scott Kardel.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/7JNuUjFnbo3Ne3iHL9owXH-415-80.jpg)
Scott Kardel is seeing the night sky in a whole new way.
An astronomy professor at Palomar College in San Marcos, California, Kardel received his first telescope at 10, and has enjoyed stargazing ever since. At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Kardel bought a Unistellar smart telescope, which is operated through a smartphone app. It has an electronic eyepiece that delivers more precise images, and compared to a traditional telescope, "It is just transformative," Kardel told The Week.
During remote learning, Kardel would connect to Zoom and show his students what he was observing through the telescope from his backyard. "They could talk to me and interact and ask questions," Kardel said. "It was quite amazing." Being able to share live views of the sky with people at their own homes was "something I never imagined you could do with a telescope," he added. "It opens up all kinds of new opportunities for teaching."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
![https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516-320-80.jpg)
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
It also makes it easier for amateur astronomers to turn into citizen scientists. Unistellar users can collect astronomical data and submit it to the SETI Institute, which then takes these scientific observations and analyzes them. In September, Kardel and several other Unistellar users from around the world observed and tracked the Dimorphos asteroid before, during, and after it was hit by NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft. The SETI Institute used their observations to measure the mass of dust that came off Dimorphos after DART slammed into it, and confirmed the asteroid was nudged enough to change its orbit.
Kardel and 30 other citizen scientists are listed as co-authors of the research paper "Light Curves and Colors of the Ejecta from Dimorphos after the DART Impact," recently published in Nature. To be named in such a prestigious journal is "pretty exciting," Kardel said, and he thinks getting more people involved in science "at any level is a good thing. It's important for an individual to contribute something that makes you feel good about yourself and also contribute to the general understanding of asteroids and comets and exploding stars."
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
-
The lab-made meat that 'could kill the EU'
Under The Radar Concerned at 'unintended consequences for farming' some farmers are 'turning rabid' over the rise of cultured meat
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
Magazine solutions - August 2, 2024
Puzzles and Quizzes Issue - August 2, 2024
By The Week Staff Published
-
Magazine printables - August 2, 2024
Puzzles and Quizzes Issue - August 2, 2024
By The Week Staff Published
-
Nasa's 'strangest find': pure sulphur on Mars
Under the Radar Curiosity rover discovers elemental sulphur rocks, adding to 'growing evidence' of life-sustaining elements on Red Planet
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
10 recent scientific breakthroughs
In Depth From cell reparation to reef restoration
By Devika Rao, The Week US Published
-
NASA, astronauts shrug off Starliner return trip delay
Speed Read Two astronauts are stuck on the International Space Station due to problems with Boeing’s Starliner
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
What would a colony on the Moon look like?
Today's Big Question People could be living in lunar 'houses' by 2040, says Nasa
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
Celestial events to watch in 2024
The Explainer Meteor showers, eclipses and more are coming to the skies
By Devika Rao, The Week US Published
-
What is NASA working on?
In Depth A running list of the space agency's most exciting developments
By Devika Rao, The Week US Published
-
This year's solar storms will help future Mars astronauts
The explainer Getting to the Red Planet requires planning and a whole lot of knowledge
By Devika Rao, The Week US Published
-
The best films and documentaries about space exploration
The Week Recommends The cosmos infiltrates Planet Earth's cinemas
By Devika Rao, The Week US Published