RSAA Colloquia / Seminars / Feast-of-Facts: Friday, 27 March 2015, 14:00-14:20; Duffield Lecture Theatre


Richard Scalzo and Fang Yuan

"Snapshot Supernova"

Snapshot Supernova, a collaboration between Skymapper, Zooniverse and BBC Stargazing Live, is a recent citizen scientists project where Zooites and BBC viewers were asked to scan for supernova candidates in SkyMapper data and the candidates were then followed up using the NTT as part of the PESSTO survey. The program successfully engaged the public and brought lots of excitement and activity in the UK and world wide. Thanks to the amazing efforts of our volunteers, we managed to discover four confirmed supernovae within the first three days and more discoveries are still being made. We will take you behind the scenes and reflect on what we have learned (a lot) through this project.