Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Comet Hunting For The Masses

Posted by chrisd on from the scientific-progress-via-idle-hands dept.

khendron writes "In this article in Wired the most awesome past time is described. Comet Hunting. On you computer. No more cold nights outside with the telescope. Sit back with a cola, fire up the broadband, and start looking." From the article: "Amateurs looking at the SOHO images on the Web have found 76 percent of the 428 new comets that have turned up in SOHO images. Of the 31 people who have discovered comets, 21 of them are amateurs. They come from 10 different countries, including Australia, Great Britain, Germany and China. "

15 of 118 comments (clear)

  1. Distributed Computing by clambert · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I wonder how long it'll be before we see distributed "Search For Comets" apps start popping up...

    --
    mailto:<?=implode("@", array("chris", implode(".", array("php", "net"))))?>
  2. Wooosh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Cool. We can get recognition for looking at computer screens, at last!

  3. Does NASA need help to identify Planet killers by davor_p · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Could NASA use similar approach to identify objects on collision course with Earth...
    Sort of like: "Neighbourgh's watch for our own beloved planet"...

    Don't take this seriously - or do... ;-)

  4. Geeks by jchawk · · Score: 5, Funny

    If there was a geek olympics would this be a medal sport?

  5. Comet hunting. I really want to do this. by Things+To+Do+Tuesday · · Score: 5, Funny

    Now, I have things to do Tuesday.

    1. Hunt comets
    2. Flee nerd-hunters

  6. ELE? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    What happens if you are the one to find ELE (Extinction Level Event)? Are you a hero? For how long? And the Most Important Question: Do you tell anyone else?

    1. Re:ELE? by DanThe1Man · · Score: 3, Funny

      Of course you tell people, espesically the government. How else are they going to assemble the 10,000 best citizens and find all that Ensure nutrition drink?

  7. 15 minutes of fame by Anarchofascist · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Sure, you get your fifteen minutes of fame, but it's only 15 minutes. All these comets are either sungrazers or sundivers.

    "Nearly all the comets they find are tiny shards of rock and ice, doomed to evaporate in the sun's atmosphere days after they are spotted. "

    It's not like any of these people can point up in the sky in fifty years time and say "Look Jimmy, you see that fuzzy patch of light in the sky that is about to destroy civilisation? Well I discovered it! That's Anarchofascist-Limo-Taco-9...

    --
    Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more, Or close the wall up with our American dead!
  8. nah... by Em+Emalb · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Call me troll, but...

    People, part of the fun of "looking for comets, etc." is actually getting off your butt, going outside with your SO, friend, family, what-have-you, and doing it together. Now this is cool, if you would rather spend *EVEN MORE* time sitting on your ass behind your computer. No thanks, I'll grab my telescope and head outside to do this, like I have in the past.

    Summary:

    crank up your machine, get it running, and then go look outside for yourself.

    *Disclaimer: I am at work, it's 4:45am, I'm cranky and there is no reason for me to be here, but I have to be.
    -1 troll

    --
    Sent from your iPad.
  9. SOHO Sales Pitch by DarkHelmet · · Score: 5, Funny
    Telecommute to work and never leave the house? Have your groceries delivered to you because you're worried you'll miss a First Post? Have your DVD's mailed to you because you don't want to go outside? Meet women off the internet because you don't want to go to bars, or anywhere else for that matter?

    You, like many of the other slashdotters who browse this site may be interested in Astronomy. But alas, Astronomy is one of those "evil" practices where often one must go outside, or even to a planetarium to witness the night sky.

    No such need anymore! New and Improved SOHO gives you all the luxury of another nerdy hobby without ever having to leave the house! Just browse the pages, and you too can feel that you're at one with the night sky! Without even having to take your eyes off the computer screen!

    Ever worry that you'll lose your lovely monitor tan if you go outside and do anything! Not to worry! SOHO's experience fits in a browser window, along with your threads of GIMPS, SETI@Home, and ProgressQuest to boot! Contribute to 3 1/4 worthy causes at the same time!

    But wait, there's more! If you visit our Site, we will give you a nifty "I find comets while surfing slashdot" T-Shirt! This does well with the ladies when talking to them over the webcam.

    Act now! Web site is limited as this site is bound to be slashdotted soon.

    Visit today! Before that comet with your name on it becomes "Comet AnonCoward-23832"

    --
    /^[A-Z0-9._%+-]+@[A-Z0-9.-]+\.[A-Z]{2,4}$/i
  10. Re:Comet Whoring. I really want to do this. by nucal · · Score: 3, Funny

    Just one more comet ... need ... to ... find ... just one more comet ....

  11. Re:Comet Hunter by frog51 · · Score: 3, Funny

    What's a comet shower? I've seen meteor showers, and I've seen comets but I don't think I know this one.

    Cool concept though - like 40 comets in a pack (or herd, or school maybe) orbiting together.

  12. Boy, is that evil or what? by GauteL · · Score: 4, Funny

    At least my initial thought when I read the headline "Comet Hunting For The Masses" was that some kind of
    comet is out there searching for masses of people to kill. Gives a whole new meaning to "Armageddon", I guess I understand all the drama in that movie now.

  13. Amateurs do a lot of the ground work anyway by jesterzog · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Amateurs looking at the SOHO images on the Web have found 76 percent of the 428 new comets that have turned up in SOHO images.

    This is hardly unusual. When it comes down to it, amateurs do more than 76 percent of virtually everything practical in astronomy already. Professionals frequently work with amateurs to get and confirm results, and a lot of professional astronomers also do things as amateurs (for fun) when they're not working. Then amateurs keep up with the professional findings, and everyone gets something out of it.

    Astronomy is probably one of the only sciences left where amateur hobbyists can and do still contribute so much useful effort towards it.

    There's just not enough funding for astronomy and space science to do anywhere near everything that can be done. For example, to get time on any big telescope, a professional has to write up a massive report and convince a board that it's worth researching what they want to do. They often have to book it many months or years in advance for possibly one or two nights of viewing. If there are circumstances like bad weather, it's often just treated as bad luck.

    That's about the state of professional astronomy. The resources are so limited that there's a massive reliance on data submitted by and work done by amateurs. Professionals can't watch all the sky all the time. Lots of supernovae, comets and asteroids in the past have been discovered by amateurs from their back yard, reported, and confirmed by professionals before (sometimes) being studied further.

    I don't know why you'd want to sit in front of a computer studying photographs all the time when you can go out with a telescope. It's so much more fun and rewarding to be actually doing something, and you actually meet people when you get involved, which is more than most people get from sitting in front of a computer. But I probably feel that way because I'm an amateur astronomer.

  14. SOHO is democratization of comet hunting by scattol · · Score: 4, Informative
    Ok, Apparently few of you actually tried to find a real comet at a real telescope freezing your but outside. Real hunting has the following problems:
    • Poor weather (especially in the North East) means that you can't observer frequently enough to have good odds of being the first one to see something because you will be clouded out far too often. Truly serious comet hunters move to Arizona to have enought clear skys to have good odds.
    • Today most comets are found by professional searches such as linear with bigger scopes. That doesn't leave much left for amateurs
    • Equipement maybe affordable for SillyValley stock holders but not for the masses out there. Min. req. these days for comet hunting is about a 20" or 22" obsession scope. That's the trend in recent amateur discovery such as comet Petriew
    • to find stuff that faint you need to be several hours out of town to get a dark enough sky becuase you work in a big town to affoard all the equipement. Avoiding light pollution is essential to see stuff that faint so you can't do it often enough

    So SOHO is actually a playing field leveler in that sense and makes comet discovery more accessible than before. Sure the is less glory that doing it the old fashion way. It's free, always good weather, timely data. It's also the only legitimate way to get your name in the heavens instead of buying stars which is nothing more than a scam IMHO. So, sure, it's sure a much bigger kick to find one at the eyepiece but a SOHO one still counts in my book.