Planet Hunter

“Find the next Planet Earth! The recently launched Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) is providing huge amounts of data that lets us look for planets that could support life outside of our own Solar System. Jump in and help the Planet Hunters TESS program and find planets that may be a future home for the human species. “ This project is hosted by Zooniverse.

How do I get started? Just go the the Zooniverse Project Page.

How much time will this take? This is a low time commitment. Spend as little or as much time as you like looking for humanity’s next home!

How do I expand this narrative arc? If science or astronomy is in your narrative arc, consider building on this interest with one of the following:

• Join another Citizen Science project and look for undiscovered galaxies millions of light years away. Volunteers have already discovered many that were missed by computers.

• If you are ready for a bigger time commitment (and for greater impact), become a ham radio enthusiast and organize a time for your science class to Talk To Astronauts on the International Space Station! Really!

HOT TIP: This is a great little project to kick off or complement a general interest in astronomy. Make sure to build on this project with some larger and more time-intensive commitments in these interest areas like the Talk To Astronauts project.