How to cite: Alessi, E. M., Martellato, E., and Cambianica, P.: Escape Moon, EPSC-DPS Joint Meeting 2025, Helsinki, Finland, 7–13 Sep 2025, EPSC-DPS2025-328, https://doi.org/10.5194/epsc-dps2025-328, 2025.

Abstract

Skywarden (Taivaanvahti) observation system provides a platform for gathering information of celestial phenomena. Nearly half of the observation reports are related to objects within planetary science. These include the planets, exoplanet transits, asteroids, comets, meteor showers, fireballs and eclipses. During its 14 years of operation, Skywarden has proven to be an efficient way of communicating space-related phenomena to the public.   

1. Introduction

Citizen science has been a rising discussion topic in the scientific world during the recent decade. Many projects have already involved volunteers making observations and participating in analysis.

In Finland, the Ursa Astronomical Association has developed and maintained observation system called Skywarden (Taivaanvahti, www.taivaanvahti.fi) since 2011 [1]. The gathered dataset consists of more than 120 000 observations contributed by over 20 000 individual users.    

2. Observed phenomena

The amateur astronomical community in Finland is not only interested in astronomical phenomena but has a long history of promoting observations of atmospheric optics [1]. The reports received by Skywarden cover phenomena from the ground level (storms and atmospheric halos [5]) to distant gamma ray bursts.  45% of the gathered observation material is related to observation targets within our solar system. [Table 1]

2.1 Eclipses

Solar and lunar eclipses are often highlighted by the media and provide easy, but rare, observable events. Skywarden’s eclipse observation theme covers total, partial and annular eclipses. A negative eclipse observation indicates that the location was clouded out.

Table 1: The number of observations sent to different categories in Skywarden, 2011-2025

2.2 Solar system objects

Of the solar system observations, the Sun and the Moon are the most popular observation targets covering 37% of the category’s material. The observation program also covers planets, comets (14%), asteroids, meteor storms and satellites.

2.3 Fireballs

Skywarden collaborates closely with the Finnish Fireball Network in collecting fireball cases. It provides tools to gather eyewitness reports of fireballs including height, direction, angle and sound information. The approach provides a fast and easy way of mapping out where individual bolides have been observed.

3. Open data and my data

Information sent into Skywarden serves many purposes. Most important of them is the user’s need to communicate achievements, gain visibility and participate in the research. All data gathered is publicly available. Only sensitive parts like contact information remain hidden. The observers receive a modification link, which gives them full control on the sent material.  In addition to the main user interface, information is made available through open Application Programmable Interfaces (API) in several computer readable formats. [2,3]

4. Data processing and quality

Information is sent in by using web observation form dedicated to each observation topic. [Figure 1].

Figure 1: Skywarden’s solar system observation form contains fields for the observation time and -location, observer contact information, description text, images and detailed identifications.

The quality of the incoming data is pre-analyzed by using AI scoring and then checked by the moderation team. Information needed for research, like UT timestamps and coordinates, are set automatically by the system if found missing. Observations belonging to the same event are grouped together and given a shared display id.

5. Observation supporting features

Skywarden maintains an online map of available dark observation locations. Each of these sites contain a description, coordinates and an address, plus additional listed features like visibility towards different directions. This feature raises awareness of the light pollution problem and instructs city-dwellers locations of nearby observations sites without excess lighting.                                      

Skywarden’s user interface contains basic descriptions of the observed phenomena. Together with the specialists’ help, this shared information deepens the learning experience of the observer.

6. Summary and Conclusions

Skywarden provides tools for running future citizen collaboration campaigns [3,4,6]. Unlike many sky-related citizen science observation campaigns, it combines different phenomena under one single platform and publishes observation contents for open research.

During the 14 years of operation, Skywarden has established a position as a reliable source of information for news media. Suddenly occurring phenomena like fireballs or rocket launches can cause worries in citizens. By providing science-based information of the observed phenomena, we do our share in increasing trust and stability. 

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank Ursa Astronomical Association for funding the development and maintenance of the Skywarden observation system. We thank the members of the Finnish Fireball Network of Ursa for fruitful collaboration. Creation and presentation of this abstract has been supported by the Research Council of Finland grant 365202.

References

[1] Karttunen, H.: Ursan historia, Tähtitieteellinen yhdistys Ursa ry. 1921–2021, ISBN 978-952-5985-98-6 

[2] Bruus, E.: Skywarden’s search interface (API): https://www.taivaanvahti.fi/app/docs/interface/output_interface_en.html

[3] Grandin, M., Bruus, E., Ledvina, V. E., Partamies, N., Barthelemy, M., Martinis, C., Dayton-Oxland, R., Gallardo-Lacourt, B., Nishimura, Y., Herlingshaw, K., Thomas, N., Karvinen, E., Lach, D., Spijkers, M., and Bergstrand, C.: The Gannon Storm: citizen science observations during the geomagnetic superstorm of 10 May 2024, Geosci. Commun., 7, 297–316, https://doi.org/10.5194/gc-7-297-2024, 2024.

[4] Palmroth M., Grandin M., Helin M., Koski P., Oksanen A., Glad M. A., et al. (2020). Citizen scientists discover a new auroral form: Dunes provide insight into the upper atmosphere. AGU Advances, 1, e2019AV000133.

[5] Moilanen, J. & Gritsevich, M. (2022). Light scattering by airborne ice crystals – An inventory of atmospheric halos. Journal of Quantitative Spectroscopy and Radiative Transfer. 290. 108313. 10.1016/j.jqsrt.2022.108313.

[6] Nishimura, Y., Bruus, E., Karvinen, E., Martinis, C. R., Dyer, A., Kangas, L., et al. (2022). Interaction between proton aurora and stable auroral red arcs unveiled by citizen scientist photographs. Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, 127, e2022JA030570.

How to cite: Bruus, E., Pekkola, M., Makela, V., Takala, M., Sipinen, T., Peussa, M., Siljama, M., Karvinen, E., Palmi, E., and Helin, M.: Skywarden: 14 years of citizen science, EPSC-DPS Joint Meeting 2025, Helsinki, Finland, 7–13 Sep 2025, EPSC-DPS2025-230, https://doi.org/10.5194/epsc-dps2025-230, 2025.

Morasko [1] is among only 200 places on Earth [2] which we are confident that they faced a cosmic catastrophe. About 4.5 ka ago [3], a small iron asteroid fragmented while going through the atmosphere and hit the area in central Poland. Morasko strewn field consists of a group of seven craters located in central Poland. The largest structure is 100 m in diameter. Multiple fragments of the impactor were found. The resulting impact craters form an extremely rare occurrence of an impact structure that is geomorphologically recognizable for everybody and, simultaneously, it is highly accessible as it is located within the fifth largest city in Poland: Poznan.

Figure 1. Photos of the first annual The Day of Morasko Meteorite Craters held on 5^th of October 2025 in Suchy Las municipality (just next to the craters).

Unfortunately, Morasko is currently utilized for educational and tourist purposes to a very limited degree. The site is formally protected (Morasko Meteorite Nature Reserve), and there is a slightly deteriorated, but well-designed educational path. Some pieces of Morasko meteorite (along with a collection of other meteorites) are curated in the nearby Geology Museum of Adam Mickiewicz University, however, access to this display is possible only for a couple of hours a week (upon previous appointment).

Museums and/or geoparks were established near many impact sites e.g.: Chicxulub museum [4], Kaali Meteoritics and Limestone Museum [5], Meteor Crater Barringer Space Museum, Odessa Meteor Crater Museum, Ries Crater Museum Nördlingen [6], Meteorite Museum, Rochechouart [7]. Most impact sites, even if they are formally protected, are not associated with a museum.

The ultimate goal of our team (~10 years in the future) is to create an interactive museum near this unique location to allow people to explore the relationship between Space and Earth. We are a very diverse team working on different aspects of this topic, ranging from astronomy and geology, through forestry and electrical engineering up to archaeology and anthropology) representing different career stages (from early career through mid and up to emeritus), from six different academic institutions in Poland. Since the establishment of our group a year ago, we have organized a large outreach event (lectures, workshops, guided trips to the craters) visited by more than 1000 people, numerous lectures, presentations for decision-makers, and we have applied for a few grants. We welcome all the help from the European Space Science Community 😊

References: [1] Szokaluk et al. 2019. Geology of the Morasko craters, Poznań, Poland —Small impact craters inunconsolidated sediments. MAPS54:1478–1494.  [2] Osinski et al. 2022. Impact Earth: A review of the terrestrial impact record, Earth-Science Rev. 232:104–112  [3] Losiak et al. 2023. Dating Morasko Crater (Poland) — Insights into the Problem of Dating of Small Impact Craters LPSC id.1699.   [4] Losiak et al. 2016. Dating Kaali Crater (Estonia) based on Charcoal emplaced within proximal ejecta blanket. MAPS 51:681–695.  [5] Urrutia-Fucugauchi et al. 2020. Chicxulub museum, geosciences in Mexico, outreach and science communication – built from the crater up. Geosci. Commun. 4:267–280.   [6] PöSges 2005. The Ries Crater Museum in Nördlingen, Bavaria, Germany. MAPS 40:1555-1557.  [7] Lambert P. 2023 The International Congress–Festival-CIRIR 2022 (ICF-CIRIR 2022), Rochechouart, France. MAPS https://doi.org/10.1111/maps.13954

How to cite: Losiak, A. and the Science Center Morasko Impakt team: Using impact craters to teach about Space Science: the development of the interactive Science Center Morasko-Impact in Poland. , EPSC-DPS Joint Meeting 2025, Helsinki, Finland, 7–13 Sep 2025, EPSC-DPS2025-1730, https://doi.org/10.5194/epsc-dps2025-1730, 2025.

The NCCR PlanetS is a Swiss national collaboration of 4 higher education organisations with divisions specialised in planetary sciences (from Solar System, to exoplanets). Funded for a total of 12 years, its missions are divided being enabling planetary science, and developing structural aspects in support of the science. One of these structures has been the communication platform, which mission over the last 12 years, has been to promote the planetary science done across Switzerland, to a wide variety of target audiences: from the general public, to schools, journalists, stakeholders, politicians, and more.

I will present some of the many communication activities developed, and actions carried during those twelve years. In a few numbers, the communication of the NCCR PlanetS has been: 

• Communication in 3 languages (English, German, French)
• 20+ press releases per year
• up to 150 000 visitors per year, in attended/organised general public events
• museum exhibitions and experiments development for the public, including planetarium shows
• a citizen science project with millions of light-curves analysed
• special projects with Swiss iconic partners: from children’s books, to coffee cream lids and post stamps
• tens of events with and for diplomatic partners
• and much more...

In this oral presentation, I will also reflect on the challenges faced by the NCCR PlanetS such as the multiple national languages, but also the success and shortcomings of our evolving strategy. This gave us unique insights and lessons on what should be done from the start, or what is superfluous and doesn't lead to the most "return on investment". Finally, I will tackle our plan for the "grand finale" as our funding comes to an end in May 2026, and how we prepare the transition to the next step...

The National Centres of Competence in Research (NCCR) are a funding scheme of the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF). They are initially funded for 4 years, up to 12 years. The NCCR PlanetS, focused on planetary sciences, is a collaboration of the University of Bern (leading house), the University of Geneva (co-leading house), the University of Zurich (associate) and the ETH Zurich (associate). As of April 2025, the NCCR PlanetS encompasses over 200 scientists, engineers, and other support staff.

How to cite: Roger, T., Schwarz, G., and Lavie, B.: Twelve years of NCCR PlanetS communication - Promoting planetary sciences in Switzerland, EPSC-DPS Joint Meeting 2025, Helsinki, Finland, 7–13 Sep 2025, EPSC-DPS2025-1840, https://doi.org/10.5194/epsc-dps2025-1840, 2025.

Wouldn’t it be nice to learn about geometry, proportions, statistics, the nature of light or the states of matter while touring around the galaxy in pursue of Earthlike planets? In Aula del Cel (The Sky Classroom) at the Observatori Astronòmic of the University of Valencia, we have been assisting the educational community for over twenty years with the aim of turning the Universe into our everyday classroom.

The purpose

Our primary goal is always to inspire youth through meaningful learning obtained from experience and evidence. We set the path to this sort of learning by means of our hands-on activities based on quality data backed up by scientific research.

The activity presented in this abstract is addressed to lower and upper secondary students and its specific targets are:

• To offer the students a quantitative approach to the size of our galaxy.
• To offer the students a quantitative approach to the portion of it having been scanned for exoplanet research.
• To offer the students a statistical approach to the diversity of our galaxy’s star and planet population.
• To allow students to assess the difficulties inherent in exoplanet detection by means of direct observation and the advantages of using physics and math laws to infer the presence and properties of a planet orbiting a star.
• To “rescue” the topic of extraterrestrial life from the fantasy realm and bring it to the classroom desk in the form of a list of life-supporting conditions, measurable magnitudes and detection thresholds.
• To make the students aware of the technical challenges and complexity associated with the exoplanet detection missions.
• To let the students become familiar with the nature of scientific work not limited to the scientific method and its stages but understood also as a purely cooperative task involving interpersonal skills and widespread cultural exchange.
• In the end and because of all the above, to enhance the students’ consciousness about the importance of Earth preservation and alignment with the seventeen UN Sustainable Development Goals.

The participants are invited to follow us on a tour along the Milky Way which not only should provide them with a glimpse of the abundance and variety of other solar systems but also will allow them to develop several educational key competences. We are referring to the “European Commission Key competences for lifelong learning” spanning from the more obvious mathematical, science, technology and engineering competence or digital competence until cultural awareness, multilingual or citizenship competence which are also addressed.

The tools and materials

This engaging classroom activity poses several challenges to the students, some of which we list hereafter:

• drawing a scatter diagram that shows the portion of galaxy that has been explored in the quest for exoplanets.
• determining the size of a planet by means of the analysis of a light curve and assessing the error and its sources.
• determining how frequent Earthlike planets are.
• modifying the habitability conditions of a planet by swapping its star for some other known or unknown star.

They deal with these challenges with the help of a hand-picked selection of materials and tools as diverse as the audience they are aimed at. The activity requires that the students make use of a combination of cutting-edge online tools and resources, 3D printed models, off-the-shelf software and technology and DIY setups, as well as our ever-present fundamental toolkit: rulers and crayons.  

The making of

As mentioned earlier, the activity is conceived as a tour that leads the travelers to reach four successive milestones:

Milestone 1 – How many exoplanets do we know, where are they and how do they look like?

First, the students are required to dive into the scientific data published in the confirmed exoplanets database “NASA’s eyes on exoplanets”, compile the key information of randomly picked solar systems, process it applying the proper scale and transfer it to a 3D model of our galaxy. 

Milestone 2 – How are exoplanets detected and how do we know about their properties? The Transit method

Second, the students assess the difficulty of perceiving a faint source of light located in the surroundings of a much brighter object such as a star. Hence, the justification for the transit detection method.

A DIY setup consisting of several balls of different sizes orbiting a led lamp is used to simulate a transit. The detector consists of the light sensor of an Android tablet together with the Playstore app “Sensors Toolbox”. The result is a light curve that reveals the existence of a planet.

All they have to do next is to apply their mathematical knowledge of proportions and geometry to extract useful information from the light measurement. They can even compare the calculated planet radius with the actual one by measuring the ball. By doing this, the students appreciate the different sources of errors. 

Milestone 3 – When do we consider an exoplanet to be potentially habitable? The goldilocks zone

Third, the students are requested to check again the database to evaluate how many of the randomly picked solar systems in milestone 1 host potentially habitable planets. This exercise provides them with an intuitive estimate of how frequent and how distant Earthlike planets are. Concluding that to perpetuate humanity we must ensure that our planet Earth is safe and sound.

After that, making use of the commercial software Sandbox Universe, they simulate different extrasolar systems and observe how the habitability zone expands or shrinks by swapping their stars for brighter or fainter ones.

Milestone 4 – Citizen science: science relying on people

Lastly, the students are introduced to ESO-NGTS Planet Hunters citizen project in order to apply all they have learned and continue their training on a regular basis.

Conclusion

At the end of the session, the students collect a commemorative badge that credits the accomplishment of all the milestones throughout the activity. They leave the Aula del Cel (The Sky Classroom) with a smile and a much richer view of life and their home planet: a meaningful learning experience.

How to cite: Ramírez Velado, B., Oritz Gil, A., and Moya Lucas, X.: Teaching science and Earth care while exploring our galaxy, EPSC-DPS Joint Meeting 2025, Helsinki, Finland, 7–13 Sep 2025, EPSC-DPS2025-1385, https://doi.org/10.5194/epsc-dps2025-1385, 2025.