Project Description
A New Citizen Scientist, Astronomer, and Computer Scientist Project to Meet the Stellar Classification Challenge in the LSST Era
Recent classification efforts have focused on either crowdsourcing visual examination to citizen scientists or automated methods, such as machine learning. Neither approach alone will be sufficient for LSST – instead, we propose to efficiently integrate the two, maximizing the citizen scientists’ time while providing the machine learning algorithms with the most useful information available. For variables, significant progress cannot be made prior to the expansion of existing training sets, collections of variables with definitive classifications. The project will enable LSST to develop the first-ever variable-star citizen-science project, which will connect LSST to more than a million members of the public.
Project Details
- Project timeline: Summer 2017
- Location: CIERA at Northwestern University/Adler Planetarium; Evanston, IL
Project Support
LSSTC Support: $40,000