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The universe is a BIG place, with a lot of
things to track and follow.
Below are some examples where Satelloids can help. |
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Meteors |
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It is as simple as
counting shooting stars. By counting the number of
shooting stars from hour to hour and reporting in, Satelloid
member's help astronomers track the position and strength of a
meteor stream. |
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Disappearing Stars! |
| As the
Moon moves around the Earth it passes in front of stars.
If the exact disappearance and reappearance time are observed it
helps astronomers to better refine the position of the Moon and
that star. If a second observer some distance away
observes the event, they can calculate the Moon's orbital speed. |
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| Lunar Grazes |
| A
graze occurs when a star skims the edge of the Moon as it passes
by. This causes the star to blink in and out behind
mountains on the limb of the moon. By using a number of
observers it is possible to get a silhouette of the mountains on
the limb of the moon and to discover properties about the star. |
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| Variable
Stars |
| Variable
stars do, as their name suggests, vary in brightness. By
tracking these changes, satelloids help the professional learn
about these unusual stars. Some of these can be tracked
with your eyes, some require a telescope. |
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| Asteroids |
| There
are tens of thousands of them and only a handful of professional
astronomers to keep track of them. Satelloids can help
follow, track and even discover these mountains in space.
There have been many asteroids discovered only to be lost again because
there are not enough people to track them. Requires a
telescope. |
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| There are
numerous other ways: |
| Monitoring
the cloud tops of planets |
| Tracking
Comets |
| Searching
for Supernova in other galaxies |
| and
the list goes on.... |
