SMCAS Presents: Citizen Astronomy with the Unistellar Network by Dr. Franck Marchis
Astronomy is a science that inspires everyone, which makes it a great tool for expanding
scientific literacy. It also has a uniquely powerful ability to make us aware of Earth’s value and
fragility. And by inspiring people to engage in citizen science, astronomy fosters not only
scientific research but also collaborative knowledge-building that’s based on a dialogue between
experts and amateurs. The Unistellar network is by far the largest network of telescopes and
citizen astronomers around the world, with 10,000 digital telescopes in more than 50 countries.
This network has collected more than 1,000 scientific observations in 2021 and our citizen
astronomers have helped the NASA Lucy mission, the NASA TESS mission and recently observed
JWST on its way to the L2 Lagrange point. We present here some of the key scientific results
achieved in 2021-2022, and future developments in education to make astronomy, easier, fun,
and accessible, but also more inclusive and accessible. We present the concept of New Astronomy
that will accelerate research space and popularize it by inviting new people to be part of the
scientific discussion.