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By NASA
6 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
NASA Ames research scientist Kristina Pistone monitors instrument data while onboard the Twin Otter aircraft, flying over Monterey Bay during the October 2024 deployment of the AirSHARP campaign. NASA/Samuel Leblanc In autumn 2024, California’s Monterey Bay experienced an outsized phytoplankton bloom that attracted fish, dolphins, whales, seabirds, and – for a few weeks in October – scientists. A team from NASA’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, with partners at the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC), and the Naval Postgraduate School, spent two weeks on the California coast gathering data on the atmosphere and the ocean to verify what satellites see from above. In spring 2025, the team returned to gather data under different environmental conditions.
Scientists call this process validation.
Setting up the Campaign
The PACE mission, which stands for Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem, was launched in February 2024 and designed to transform our understanding of ocean and atmospheric environments. Specifically, the satellite will give scientists a finely detailed look at life near the ocean surface and the composition and abundance of aerosol particles in the atmosphere.
Whenever NASA launches a new satellite, it sends validation science teams around the world to confirm that the data from instruments in space match what traditional instruments can see at the surface. AirSHARP (Airborne aSsessment of Hyperspectral Aerosol optical depth and water-leaving Reflectance Product Performance for PACE) is one of these teams, specifically deployed to validate products from the satellite’s Ocean Color Instrument (OCI).
The OCI spectrometer works by measuring reflected sunlight. As sunlight bounces off of the ocean’s surface, it creates specific shades of color that researchers use to determine what is in the water column below. To validate the OCI data, research teams need to confirm that measurements directly at the surface match those from the satellite. They also need to understand how the atmosphere is changing the color of the ocean as the reflected light is traveling back to the satellite.
In October 2024 and May 2025, the AirSHARP team ran simultaneous airborne and seaborne campaigns. Going into the field during different seasons allows the team to collect data under different environmental conditions, validating as much of the instrument’s range as possible.
Over 13 days of flights on a Twin Otter aircraft, the NASA-led team used instruments called 4STAR-B (Spectrometer for sky-scanning sun Tracking Atmospheric Research B), and the C-AIR (Coastal Airborne In-situ Radiometer) to gather data from the air. At the same time, partners from UCSC used a host of matching instruments onboard the research vessel R/V Shana Rae to gather data from the water’s surface.
Ocean Color and Water Leaving Reflectance
The Ocean Color Instrument measures something called water leaving reflectance, which provides information on the microscopic composition of the water column, including water molecules, phytoplankton, and particulates like sand, inorganic materials, and even bubbles. Ocean color varies based on how these materials absorb and scatter sunlight. This is especially useful for determining the abundance and types of phytoplankton.
Photographs taken out the window of the Twin Otter aircraft during the October 2024 AirSHARP deployment showcase the variation in ocean color, which indicates different molecular composition of the water column beneath. The red color in several of these photos is due to a phytoplankton bloom – in this case a growth of red algae. NASA/Samuel Leblanc
The AirSHARP team used radiometers with matching technology – C-AIR from the air and C-OPS (Compact Optical Profiling System) from the water – to gather water leaving reflectance data.
“The C-AIR instrument is modified from an instrument that goes on research vessels and takes measurements of the water’s surface from very close range,” said NASA Ames research scientist Samuel LeBlanc. “The issue there is that you’re very local to one area at a time. What our team has done successfully is put it on an aircraft, which enables us to span the entire Monterey Bay.”
The larger PACE validation team will compare OCI measurements with observations made by the sensors much closer to the ocean to ensure that they match, and make adjustments when they don’t.
Aerosol Interference
One factor that can impact OCI data is the presence of manmade and natural aerosols, which interact with sunlight as it moves through the atmosphere. An aerosol refers to any solid or liquid suspended in the air, such as smoke from fires, salt from sea spray, particulates from fossil fuel emissions, desert dust, and pollen.
Imagine a 420 mile-long tube, with the PACE satellite at one end and the ocean at the other. Everything inside the tube is what scientists refer to as the atmospheric column, and it is full of tiny particulates that interact with sunlight. Scientists quantify this aerosol interaction with a measurement called aerosol optical depth.
“During AirSHARP, we were essentially measuring, at different wavelengths, how light is changed by the particles present in the atmosphere,” said NASA Ames research scientist Kristina Pistone. “The aerosol optical depth is a measure of light extinction, or how much light is either scattered away or absorbed by aerosol particulates.”
The team measured aerosol optical depth using the 4STAR-B spectrometer, which was engineered at NASA Ames and enables scientists to identify which aerosols are present and how they interact with sunlight.
Twin Otter Aircraft
AirSHARP principal investigator Liane Guild walks towards a Twin Otter aircraft owned and operated by the Naval Postgraduate School. The aircraft’s ability to perform complex, low-altitude flights made it the ideal platform to fly multiple instruments over Monterey Bay during the AirSHARP campaign. NASA/Samuel Leblanc
Flying these instruments required use of a Twin Otter plane, operated by the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS). The Twin Otter is unique for its ability to perform extremely low-altitude flights, making passes down to 100 feet above the water in clear conditions.
“It’s an intense way to fly. At that low height, the pilots continually watch for and avoid birds, tall ships, and even wildlife like breaching whales,” said Anthony Bucholtz, director of the Airborne Research Facility at NPS.
With the phytoplankton bloom attracting so much wildlife in a bay already full of ships, this is no small feat. “The pilots keep a close eye on the radar, and fly by hand,” Bucholtz said, “all while following careful flight plans crisscrossing Monterey Bay and performing tight spirals over the Research Vessel Shana Rae.”
Campaign Data
Data gathered from the 2024 phase of this campaign is available on two data archive systems. Data from the 4STAR instrument is available in the PACE data archive and data from C-AIR is housed in the SeaBASS data archive.
Other data from the NASA PACE Validation Science Team is available through the PACE website: https://pace.oceansciences.org/pvstdoi.htm#
Samuel LeBlanc and Kristina Pistone are funded via the Bay Area Environmental Research Institute (BAERI), which is a scientist-founded nonprofit focused on supporting Earth and space sciences.
About the Author
Milan Loiacono
Science Communication SpecialistMilan Loiacono is a science communication specialist for the Earth Science Division at NASA Ames Research Center.
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Last Updated Jun 26, 2025 Related Terms
Ames Research Center's Science Directorate Ames Research Center Earth Earth Science Earth Science Division PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, Ocean Ecosystem) Science Mission Directorate Explore More
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By NASA
When future astronauts set foot on Mars, they will stand on decades of scientific groundwork laid by people like Andrea Harrington.
As NASA’s sample return curation integration lead, Harrington is helping shape the future of planetary exploration and paving the way for interplanetary discovery.
Official portrait of Andrea Harrington. NASA/Josh Valcarcel Harrington works in NASA’s Astromaterials Research and Exploration Sciences Division, or ARES, at Johnson Space Center in Houston, where she integrates curation, science, engineering, and planetary protection strategies into the design and operation of new laboratory facilities and sample handling systems. She also helps ensure that current and future sample collections—from lunar missions to asteroid returns—are handled with scientific precision and preserved for long-term study.
“I am charged with protecting the samples from Earth—and protecting Earth from the restricted samples,” Harrington said. This role requires collaboration across NASA centers, senior leadership, engineers, the scientific community, and international space exploration agencies.
With a multidisciplinary background in biology, planetary science, geochemistry, and toxicology, Harrington has become a key expert in developing the facility and contamination control requirements needed to safely preserve and study sensitive extraterrestrial samples. She works closely with current and future curators to improve operational practices and inform laboratory specifications—efforts that will directly support future lunar missions.
Andrea Harrington in front of NASA’s Astromaterials Research and Exploration Sciences Division Mars Wall at Johnson Space Center in Houston. Her work has already made a lasting impact. She helped develop technologies such as a clean closure system to reduce contamination during sample handling and ultraclean, three-chamber inert isolation cabinets. These systems have become standard equipment and are used for preserving samples from missions like OSIRIS-REx and Hayabusa2. They have also supported the successful processing of sensitive Apollo samples through the Apollo Next Generation Sample Analysis Program.
In addition to technology development, Harrington co-led the assessment of high-containment and pristine facilities to inform future technology and infrastructural requirements for Restricted Earth Returns, critical for sample returns Mars, Europa, and Enceladus.
Harrington’s leadership, vision, and technical contribution have reached beyond ARES and have earned her two Director’s Commendations.
“The experiences I have acquired at NASA have rounded out my background even more and have provided me with a greater breadth of knowledge to draw upon and then piece together,” said Harrington. “I have learned to trust my instincts since they have allowed me to quickly assess and effectively troubleshoot problems on numerous occasions.”
Andrea Harrington in Johnson’s newly commissioned Advanced Curation Laboratory. Harrington also serves as the Advanced Curation Medical Geology lead. She and her team are pioneering new exposure techniques that require significantly less sample material to evaluate potential health risks of astromaterials.
Her team is studying a range of astromaterial samples and analogues to identify which components may trigger the strongest inflammatory responses, or whether multiple factors are at play. Identifying the sources of inflammation can help scientists assess the potential hazards of handling materials from different planetary bodies, guide decisions about protective equipment for sample processors and curators, and may eventually support astronaut safety on future missions.
Harrington also spearheaded a Space Act Agreement to build a science platform on the International Space Station that will enable planetary science and human health experiments in microgravity, advancing both human spaceflight and planetary protection goals.
Andrea Harrington at the National Academies Committee on Planetary Protection and Committee on Astrobiology and Planetary Sciences in Irvine, California. Harrington credits her NASA career for deepening her appreciation of the power of communication. “The ability to truly listen and hear other people’s perspectives is just as important as the ability to deliver a message or convey an idea,” she said.
Her passion for space science is rooted in purpose. “What drew me to NASA is the premise that what I would be doing was not just for myself, but for the benefit of all,” she said. “Although I am personally passionate about the work I am doing, the fact that the ultimate goal is to enable the fulfillment of those passions for generations of space scientists and explorers to come is quite inspiring.”
Andrea Harrington and her twin sister, Jane Valenti, as children (top two photos) and at Brazos Bend State Park in Needville, Texas, in 2024. Harrington loves to travel, whether she is mountain biking through Moab, scuba diving in the Galápagos, or immersing herself in the architecture and culture of cities around the world. She shares her passion for discovery with her family—her older sister, Nicole Reandeau; her twin sister, Jane Valenti; and especially her husband, Alexander Smirnov.
A lesson she hopes to pass along to the Artemis Generation is the spirit of adventure along with a reminder that exploration comes in many forms.
“Artemis missions and the return of pristine samples from another planetary bodies to Earth are steppingstones that will enable us to do even more,” Harrington said. “The experience and lessons learned could help us safely and effectively explore distant worlds, or simply inspire the next generation of explorers to do great things we can’t yet even imagine.”
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NASA’s NICER Maps Debris From Recurring Cosmic Crashes
Lee esta nota de prensa en español aquí.
For the first time, astronomers have probed the physical environment of repeating X-ray outbursts near monster black holes thanks to data from NASA’s NICER (Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer) and other missions.
Scientists have only recently encountered this class of X-ray flares, called QPEs, or quasi-periodic eruptions. A system astronomers have nicknamed Ansky is the eighth QPE source discovered, and it produces the most energetic outbursts seen to date. Ansky also sets records in terms of timing and duration, with eruptions every 4.5 days or so that last approximately 1.5 days.
“These QPEs are mysterious and intensely interesting phenomena,” said Joheen Chakraborty, a graduate student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge. “One of the most intriguing aspects is their quasi-periodic nature. We’re still developing the methodologies and frameworks we need to understand what causes QPEs, and Ansky’s unusual properties are helping us improve those tools.”
Watch how astronomers used data from NASA’s NICER (Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer) to study a mysterious cosmic phenomenon called a quasi-periodic eruption, or QPE.
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Ansky’s name comes from ZTF19acnskyy, the moniker of a visible-light outburst seen in 2019. It was located in a galaxy about 300 million light-years away in the constellation Virgo. This event was the first indication that something unusual might be happening.
A paper about Ansky, led by Chakraborty, was published Tuesday in The Astrophysical Journal.
A leading theory suggests that QPEs occur in systems where a relatively low-mass object passes through the disk of gas surrounding a supermassive black hole that holds hundreds of thousands to billions of times the Sun’s mass.
When the lower-mass object punches through the disk, its passage drives out expanding clouds of hot gas that we observe as QPEs in X-rays.
Scientists think the eruptions’ quasi-periodicity occurs because the smaller object’s orbit is not perfectly circular and spirals toward the black hole over time. Also, the extreme gravity close to the black hole warps the fabric of space-time, altering the object’s orbits so they don’t close on themselves with each cycle. Scientists’ current understanding suggests the eruptions repeat until the disk disappears or the orbiting object disintegrates, which may take up to a few years.
A system astronomers call Ansky, in the galaxy at the center of this image, is home to a recently discovered series of quasi-periodic eruptions. Sloan Digital Sky Survey “Ansky’s extreme properties may be due to the nature of the disk around its supermassive black hole,” said Lorena Hernández-García, an astrophysicist at the Millennium Nucleus on Transversal Research and Technology to Explore Supermassive Black Holes, the Millennium Institute of Astrophysics, and University of Valparaíso in Chile. “In most QPE systems the supermassive black hole likely shreds a passing star, creating a small disk very close to itself. In Ansky’s case, we think the disk is much larger and can involve objects farther away, creating the longer timescales we observe.”
Hernández-García, in addition to being a co-author on Chakraborty’s paper, led the study that discovered Ansky’s QPEs, which was published in April in Nature Astronomy and used data from NICER, NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory and Chandra X-ray Observatory, as well as ESA’s (European Space Agency’s) XMM-Newton space telescope.
NICER’s position on the International Space Station allowed it to observe Ansky about 16 times every day from May to July 2024. The frequency of the observations was critical in detecting the X-ray fluctuations that revealed Ansky produces QPEs.
Chakraborty’s team used data from NICER and XMM-Newton to map the rapid evolution of the ejected material driving the observed QPEs in unprecedented detail by studying variations in X-ray intensity during the rise and fall of each eruption.
The researchers found that each impact resulted in about a Jupiter’s worth of mass reaching expansion velocities around 15% of the speed of light.
The NICER (Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer) X-ray telescope is reflected on NASA astronaut and Expedition 72 flight engineer Nick Hague’s spacesuit helmet visor in this high-flying “space-selfie” taken during a spacewalk on Jan. 16, 2025. NASA/Nick Hague The NICER telescope’s ability to frequently observe Ansky from the space station and its unique measurement capabilities also made it possible for the team to measure the size and temperature of the roughly spherical bubble of debris as it expanded.
“All NICER’s Ansky observations used in these papers were collected after the instrument experienced a ‘light leak’ in May 2023,” said Zaven Arzoumanian, the mission’s science lead at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “Even though the leak – which was patched in January – affected the telescope’s observing strategy, NICER was still able to make vital contributions to time domain astronomy, or the study of changes in the cosmos on timescales we can see.”
After the repair, NICER continued observing Ansky to explore how the outbursts have evolved over time. A paper about these results, led by Hernández-García and co-authored by Chakraborty, is under review.
Observational studies of QPEs like Chakraborty’s will also play a key role in preparing the science community for a new era of multimessenger astronomy, which combines measurements using light, elementary particles, and space-time ripples called gravitational waves to better understand objects and events in the universe.
One goal of ESA’s future LISA (Laser Interferometer Space Antenna) mission, in which NASA is a partner, is to study extreme mass-ratio inspirals — or systems where a low-mass object orbits a much more massive one, like Ansky. These systems should emit gravitational waves that are not observable with current facilities. Electromagnetic studies of QPEs will help improve models of those systems ahead of LISA’s anticipated launch in the mid-2030s.
“We’re going to keep observing Ansky for as long as we can,” Chakraborty said. “We’re still in the infancy of understanding QPEs. It’s such an exciting time because there’s so much to learn.”
Download images and videos through NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio.
By Jeanette Kazmierczak
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
Media Contact:
Claire Andreoli
301-286-1940
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
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Last Updated May 06, 2025 Editor Jeanette Kazmierczak Location Goddard Space Flight Center Related Terms
The Universe Astrophysics Black Holes Galaxies, Stars, & Black Holes Galaxies, Stars, & Black Holes Research International Space Station (ISS) ISS Research NICER (Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer) Science & Research Supermassive Black Holes X-ray Astronomy View the full article
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By NASA
6 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
Located off the coast of Ecuador, Paramount seamount is among the kinds of ocean floor features that certain ocean-observing satellites like SWOT can detect by how their gravitational pull affects the sea surface.NOAA Okeanos Explorer Program More accurate maps based on data from the SWOT mission can improve underwater navigation and result in greater knowledge of how heat and life move around the world’s ocean.
There are better maps of the Moon’s surface than of the bottom of Earth’s ocean. Researchers have been working for decades to change that. As part of the ongoing effort, a NASA-supported team recently published one of the most detailed maps yet of the ocean floor, using data from the SWOT (Surface Water and Ocean Topography) satellite, a collaboration between NASA and the French space agency CNES (Centre National d’Études Spatiales).
Ships outfitted with sonar instruments can make direct, incredibly detailed measurements of the ocean floor. But to date, only about 25% of it has been surveyed in this way. To produce a global picture of the seafloor, researchers have relied on satellite data.
This animation shows seafloor features derived from SWOT data on regions off Mexico, South America, and the Antarctic Peninsula. Purple denotes regions that are lower relative to higher areas like seamounts, depicted in green. Eötvös is the unit of measure for the gravity-based data used to create these maps.
NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio Why Seafloor Maps Matter
More accurate maps of the ocean floor are crucial for a range of seafaring activities, including navigation and laying underwater communications cables. “Seafloor mapping is key in both established and emerging economic opportunities, including rare-mineral seabed mining, optimizing shipping routes, hazard detection, and seabed warfare operations,” said Nadya Vinogradova Shiffer, head of physical oceanography programs at NASA Headquarters in Washington.
Accurate seafloor maps are also important for an improved understanding of deep-sea currents and tides, which affect life in the abyss, as well as geologic processes like plate tectonics. Underwater mountains called seamounts and other ocean floor features like their smaller cousins, abyssal hills, influence the movement of heat and nutrients in the deep sea and can attract life. The effects of these physical features can even be felt at the surface by the influence they exert on ecosystems that human communities depend on.
This map of seafloor features like abyssal hills in the Indian Ocean is based on sea surface height data from the SWOT satellite. Purple denotes regions that are lower relative to higher areas like abyssal hills, depicted in green. Eötvös is the unit of measure for the gravity-based data used to create these maps.NASA Earth Observatory This global map of seafloor features is based on ocean height data from the SWOT satellite. Purple denotes regions that are lower compared to higher features such as seamounts and abyssal hills, depicted in green. Eötvös is the unit of measure for the gravity-based data used to create these maps.NASA Earth Observatory This map of ocean floor features like seamounts southwest of Acapulco, Mexico, is based on sea surface height data from SWOT. Purple denotes regions that are lower relative to higher areas like seamounts, indicated with green. Eötvös is the unit of measure for the gravity-based data used to create these maps.NASA Earth Observatory Mapping the seafloor isn’t the SWOT mission’s primary purpose. Launched in December 2022, the satellite measures the height of water on nearly all of Earth’s surface, including the ocean, lakes, reservoirs, and rivers. Researchers can use these differences in height to create a kind of topographic map of the surface of fresh- and seawater. This data can then be used for tasks such as assessing changes in sea ice or tracking how floods progress down a river.
“The SWOT satellite was a huge jump in our ability to map the seafloor,” said David Sandwell, a geophysicist at Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California. He’s used satellite data to chart the bottom of the ocean since the 1990s and was one of the researchers responsible for the SWOT-based seafloor map, which was published in the journal Science in December 2024.
How It Works
The study authors relied the fact that because geologic features like seamounts and abyssal hills have more mass than their surroundings, they exert a slightly stronger gravitational pull that creates small, measurable bumps in the sea surface above them. These subtle gravity signatures help researchers predict the kind of seafloor feature that produced them.
Through repeated observations — SWOT covers about 90% of the globe every 21 days — the satellite is sensitive enough to pick up these minute differences, with centimeter-level accuracy, in sea surface height caused by the features below. Sandwell and his colleagues used a year’s worth of SWOT data to focus on seamounts, abyssal hills, and underwater continental margins, where continental crust meets oceanic crust.
Previous ocean-observing satellites have detected massive versions of these bottom features, such as seamounts over roughly 3,300 feet (1 kilometer) tall. The SWOT satellite can pick up seamounts less than half that height, potentially increasing the number of known seamounts from 44,000 to 100,000. These underwater mountains stick up into the water, influencing deep sea currents. This can concentrate nutrients along their slopes, attracting organisms and creating oases on what would otherwise be barren patches of seafloor.
Looking Into the Abyss
The improved view from SWOT also gives researchers more insight into the geologic history of the planet.
“Abyssal hills are the most abundant landform on Earth, covering about 70% of the ocean floor,” said Yao Yu, an oceanographer at Scripps Institution of Oceanography and lead author on the paper. “These hills are only a few kilometers wide, which makes them hard to observe from space. We were surprised that SWOT could see them so well.”
Abyssal hills form in parallel bands, like the ridges on a washboard, where tectonic plates spread apart. The orientation and extent of the bands can reveal how tectonic plates have moved over time. Abyssal hills also interact with tides and deep ocean currents in ways that researchers don’t fully understand yet.
The researchers have extracted nearly all the information on seafloor features they expected to find in the SWOT measurements. Now they’re focusing on refining their picture of the ocean floor by calculating the depth of the features they see. The work complements an effort by the international scientific community to map the entire seafloor using ship-based sonar by 2030. “We won’t get the full ship-based mapping done by then,” said Sandwell. “But SWOT will help us fill it in, getting us close to achieving the 2030 objective.”
More About SWOT
The SWOT satellite was jointly developed by NASA and CNES, with contributions from the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and the UK Space Agency. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, managed for the agency by Caltech in Pasadena, California, leads the U.S. component of the project. For the flight system payload, NASA provided the Ka-band radar interferometer (KaRIn) instrument, a GPS science receiver, a laser retroreflector, a two-beam microwave radiometer, and NASA instrument operations. The Doppler Orbitography and Radioposition Integrated by Satellite system, the dual frequency Poseidon altimeter (developed by Thales Alenia Space), the KaRIn radio-frequency subsystem (together with Thales Alenia Space and with support from the UK Space Agency), the satellite platform, and ground operations were provided by CNES. The KaRIn high-power transmitter assembly was provided by CSA.
To learn more about SWOT, visit:
https://swot.jpl.nasa.gov
News Media Contacts
Jane J. Lee / Andrew Wang
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
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Last Updated Mar 19, 2025 Related Terms
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Interview with Michiharu Hyogo, Citizen Scientist and First Author of a New Scientific Paper
Peer-reviewed scientific journal articles are the bedrock of science. Each one represents the culmination of a substantial project, impartially checked for accuracy and relevance – a proud accomplishment for any science team.
The person who takes responsibility for writing the paper must inevitably and repeatedly write, edit, and rewrite its content as they receive comments and constructive criticism from colleagues, peers, and editors. And the process involves much more than merely re-writing the words. Implementing feedback and polishing the paper regularly involves reanalyzing data and conducting additional analyses as needed, over and over again. The person who successfully climbs this mountain of effort can then often earn the honor of being named the first author of a peer-reviewed scientific publication. To our delight, more and more of NASA’s citizen scientists have taken on this demanding challenge, and accomplished this incredible feat.
Michiharu Hyogo is one of these pioneers. His paper, “Unveiling the Infrared Excess of SIPS J2045-6332: Evidence for a Young Stellar Object with Potential Low-Mass Companion” (Hyogo et al. 2025) was recently accepted for publication in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. He conceived of the idea for this paper, performed most of the research using of data from NASA’s retired Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) mission, and submitted it to the journal. We asked him some questions about his life and he shared with us some of the secrets to his success.
Q: Where do you live, Michi?
A: I have been living in Tokyo, Japan since the end of 2012. Before that, I lived outside Japan for a total of 21 years, in countries such as Canada, the USA, and Australia.
Q: Which NASA Citizen Science projects have you worked on?
A: I am currently working on three different NASA-sponsored projects: Disk Detective, Backyard Worlds: Planet 9, and Planet Patrol.
Q: What do you do when you’re not working on these projects?
A: Until March of last year, I worked as a part-time lecturer at a local university in Tokyo. At the moment, I am unemployed and looking for similar positions. My dream is to work at a community college in the USA, but so far, my job search has been unsuccessful. In the near future, I hope to teach while also working on projects like this one. This is my dream.
Q: How did you learn about NASA Citizen Science?
A: It’s a very long story. A few years after completing my master’s degree, around 2011, a friend from the University of Hawaii (where I did my bachelor’s degree) introduced me to one of the Zooniverse projects. Since it was so long ago, I can’t remember exactly which project it was—perhaps Galaxy Zoo or another one whose name escapes me.
I definitely worked on Planet Hunters, classifying all 150,000 light curves from (NASA’s) Kepler observatory. Around the time I completed my classifications for Planet Hunters, I came across Disk Detective as it was launching. A friend on Facebook shared information about it, stating that it was “NASA’s first sponsored citizen science project aimed at publishing scientific papers”.
At that time, I was unemployed and had plenty of free time, so I joined without giving much thought to the consequences. I never expected that this project would eventually lead me to write my own paper — it was far beyond anything I had imagined.
Q: What would you say you have gained from working on these NASA projects?A: Working on these NASA-sponsored projects has been an incredibly valuable experience for me in multiple ways. Scientifically, I have gained hands-on experience in analyzing astronomical data, identifying potential celestial objects, and contributing to real research efforts. Through projects like Disk Detective,Backyard Worlds: Planet 9, and Planet Patrol, I have learned how to systematically classify data, recognize patterns, and apply astrophysical concepts in a practical setting.
Beyond the technical skills, I have also gained a deeper understanding of how citizen science can contribute to professional research. Collaborating with experts and other volunteers has improved my ability to communicate scientific ideas and work within a research community.
Perhaps most importantly, these projects have given me a sense of purpose and the opportunity to contribute to cutting-edge discoveries. They have also led to unexpected opportunities, such as co-authoring scientific papers — something I never imagined when I first joined. Overall, these experiences have strengthened my passion for astronomy and my desire to continue contributing to the field.
Q: How did you make the discovery that you wrote about in your paper?
A: Well, the initial goal of this project was to discover circumstellar disks around brown dwarfs. The Disk Detective team assembled more than 1,600 promising candidates that might possess such disks. These objects were identified and submitted by volunteers from the same project, following the physical criteria outlined within it.
Among these candidates, I found an object with the largest infrared excess and the fourth-latest spectral type. This was the moment I first encountered the object and found it particularly interesting, prompting me to investigate it further.
Although we ultimately did not discover a disk around this object, we uncovered intriguing physical characteristics, such as its youth and the presence of a low-mass companion with a spectral type of L3 to L4.
Q: How did you feel when your paper was accepted for publication?
A: Thank you for asking this question—I truly appreciate it. I feel like the biggest milestone of my life has finally been achieved!
This is the first time I genuinely feel that I have made a positive impact on society. It feels like a miracle. Imagine if we had a time machine and I could go back five years to tell my past self this whole story. You know what my past self would say? “You’re crazy.”
Yes, I kept dreaming about this, and deep down, I was always striving toward this goal because it has been my purpose in life since childhood. I’m also proud that I accomplished something like this without being employed by a university or research institute. (Ironically, I wasn’t able to achieve something like this while I was in grad school.)
I’m not sure if there are similar examples in the history of science, but I’m quite certain this is a rare event.
Q: What would you say to other citizen scientists about the process of writing a paper?
A: Oh, there are several important things I need to share with them.
First, never conduct research entirely on your own. Reach out to experts in your field as much as possible. For example, in my case, I collaborated with brown dwarf experts from the Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 team. When I completed the first draft of my paper, I sent it to all my collaborators to get their feedback on its quality and to check if they had any comments on the content. It took some time, but I received a lot of helpful suggestions that ultimately improved the clarity and conciseness of my paper.
If this is your first time receiving extensive feedback, it might feel overwhelming. However, you should see it as a valuable opportunity—one that will lead you to stronger research results. I am truly grateful for the feedback I received. This process will almost certainly help you receive positive feedback from referees when you submit your own paper. That’s exactly what happened to me.
Second, do not assume that others will automatically understand your research for you. This seems to be a common challenge among many citizen scientists. First, you must have a clear understanding of your own research project. Then, it is crucial to communicate your progress clearly and concisely, without unnecessary details. If you have questions—especially when you are stuck — be specific.
For example, I frequently attend Zoom meetings for various projects, including Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 and Disk Detective. In every meeting, I give a brief recap of what I’ve been working on — every single time — to refresh the audience’s memory. This helps them stay engaged and remember my research. (Screen sharing is especially useful for this.) After the recap, I present my questions. This approach makes it much easier for others to understand where I am in my research and, ultimately, helps them provide potential solutions to the challenges I’m facing.
Lastly, use Artificial Intelligence (AI) as much as possible. For tasks like editing, proofreading, and debugging, AI tools can be incredibly helpful. I don’t mean to sound harsh, but I find it surprising that some people still do these things manually. In many cases, this can be a waste of time. I strongly believe we should rely on machines for tasks that we either don’t need to do ourselves or simply cannot do. This approach saves time and significantly improves productivity.
Q: Thank you for sharing all these useful tips! Is there anything else you would like to add?
A: I would like to sincerely thank all my collaborators for their patience and support throughout this journey. I know we have never met in person, and for some of you, this may not be a familiar way to communicate (it wasn’t for me at first either). If that’s the case, I completely understand. I truly appreciate your trust in me and in this entirely online mode of communication. Without your help, none of what I have achieved would have been possible.
I am now thinking about pushing myself to take on another set of research projects. My pursuit of astronomical research will not stop, and I hope you will continue to follow my journey. I will also do my best to support others along the way.
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Last Updated Mar 18, 2025 Related Terms
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