NASA Exoplanet Watch

# NASA Exoplanet Watch Exoplanet Watch is a NASA citizen-science project in which volunteers observe transiting exoplanets - planets passing in front of their stars - and measure how the starlight dims. The data participants upload helps keep transit timing predictions fresh for professional observatories. You do not need your own telescope: NASA's guidance is 'If you have a telescope: observe transiting exoplanets. If you don't have a telescope: request data from a robotic telescope.' ## What You'll Do - Complete the short online training (NASA lists 'Time to get started: 2-4 minutes to complete online training') - Request observations from a robotic telescope or capture your own if you have equipment - Analyze light curves using EXOTIC, the project's free software, with help from the community - Upload results to the shared database, where your work appears on the project's results page, and join a community of 2,000+ members with Slack channels and biweekly meetings ## Who Should Apply Anyone curious about astronomy - NASA's citizen science hub states its projects are 'open to everyone (no citizenship required),' and the project page says 'You don't have to be a rocket scientist or an astrophysicist to study distant worlds.' Required equipment is just a 'Web-connected device' and required knowledge is 'None.' ## Outcomes Students contribute real observational data used for further exoplanet research, learn photometry and Python-based analysis with EXOTIC, and can point to concrete, credited scientific contributions - unusual depth for a free, self-paced program.