Volunteers Contribute to Science

Citizen Science

Volunteer individuals or organizations from anywhere and with any amount of scientific background help complete NASA planetary research in myriad ways, including building radio telescopes, writing software, creating mission-based artwork, translating project materials into other languages, engaging in research at observatories, and writing (and winning) telescope use proposals.

Join a Planetary Science Project

Publications

Resources for Researchers

Citizen Science Stories

For More Information

Join a Planetary Science Project

Amateur astronomers and volunteer (citizen) scientists discovered most of the known planets and comets, and they continue to make major contributions to planetary science research. Anyone around the world can join NASA’s planetary science efforts as an amateur/citizen scientist by participating in one of the projects below.

cartoon asteroid with face, wearing sweatband and wristbands, pumping red hand weights

Active Asteroids

Help to find new asteroids with comet tails in the search for water and ice in space.

Learn More

Backyard Worlds: Planet 9

Is there a large planet beyond Neptune? Help search for it, using data from NASA's WISE mission.

Learn More

Cloudspotting on Mars

Assist researchers in reviewing 15 years of cloud observations on Mars to confirm and classify images.

Learn More

Daily Minor Planet

Using data from the Catalina Sky Survey, look for asteroids and help spot potential Earth impactors.

Learn More

International Astronomical Search Collaboration

Use astronomical data to make discoveries, including the search for asteroids. This program includes educational resources for formal curricula.

Learn More

JunoCam

Amateur astronomers upload telescope images and data of Jupiter, which help inform NASA’s Juno mission.

Learn More

serif text in gray with two moons for the letter O in Moon, against a black background

MoonDiff

Compare new and old images of the moon to study how the lunar surface has changed.

Learn More

Radio JOVE

Build your own radio telescope and tune in to signals from Jupiter.

Learn More

The Sun's atmosphere, shown in red, with a bright white stream of a comet shooting through it.

Sungrazer Project

Discover previously unknown comets using data from NASA’s SOHO and STEREO missions.

Learn More

Planetary Science Publications Incorporating Citizen Science

Shared Discoveries

Volunteers worldwide engaged in NASA citizen science projects may contribute planetary discoveries that enable them to become co-authors on published papers.

See papers utilizing planetary citizen science

peaks of wave data showing while against a black background

An example of citizen science annotated data from the Cloudspotting on Mars project.

For Researchers

Information to help researchers launch a citizen science project

NASA Resources
NASA's Science Mission Directorate has collected myriad citizen science resources online for project leaders.
Seed Funding
Resources linked here assist researchers who want to propose citizen science projects, including 1-year seed funding opportunities.
NASA CitSci Leaders Series
This NASA site is a hub of virtual events for current, past, and future citizen science program leaders to share best practices for successful projects.
Partnership Opportunities
The Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research Program (EPSCoR) establishes partnerships to strengthen the research capability of jurisdictions that have not in the past participated equably in competitive aerospace research activities.
Resources for Federal Agencies
This U.S. government web site provides resources to accelerate the use of crowdsourcing and citizen science with searchable project database, community connections, and toolkits.