Citizen Scientists and the Unistellar Network: A Year of Discoveries and a Look Ahead to 2025

The Unistellar citizen science program, a collaboration between the SETI Institute and Unistellar, had an impressive 2024 filled with groundbreaking discoveries. In a recent Q&A session, Dr. Franck Marchis and Dr. Lauren Sgro shared the program’s achievements and previewed what’s in store for 2025.

2024 - A Record-Breaking Year

One of the most significant milestones of 2024 was surpassing 10,000 citizen science observations. This was made possible by a dedicated global community of around 2,500 Unistellar observers who collaborate via Slack. 

Many of these observations — nearly 6,000 — focused on transient astronomical events as part of the Cosmic Cataclysm program. Nearly half of these focused on one elusive target, T CrB, a recurring nova that citizen astronomers have patiently waited to see explode. With their continued effort, the Unistellar Network might just catch this nova in action, but until then they have gathered over a year’s worth of data to construct a long-term light curve, showing how the star’s light changed over time. 

Breakthrough in Asteroid Research

In 2024, the Unistellar Network focused on Asteroid research, especially the study of trans-Neptunian objects — distant, icy bodies beyond Neptune’s orbit that offer clues about the early solar system.

A major highlight was the successful observation of an occultation by the trans-Neptunian object 2013 UL28 when it passed in front of a distant star. Citizen astronomers in the U.S. and Mexico recorded the 36-second timespan — the longest occultation observed by the Network — helping scientists to determine its shape.

Another significant achievement was the discovery of a binary asteroid system. Observer Van Ruckman in Virginia documented two distinct blinks during an occultation event, revealing that the asteroid (1626) Sadeya consists of a roughly 12 km primary body and a smaller companion. This marks the first detection of a binary asteroid with the Unistellar Network.

Exoplanet Exploration

The Unistellar community also made strides in exoplanet research. The UPTEMPO (Unistellar Pursuing TESS Exoplanet Markers Previously Overlooked) campaign focuses on signals from NASA’s TESS mission that hint at potential exoplanets.

In November 2024 and January 2025, observers in Japan and North America detected intriguing signatures from a star observed by TESS, suggesting the presence of a transiting planet. Further observations planned for February and March will help confirm whether an exoplanet is truly there, so keep your eyes on the skies.

Looking Forward to 2025

The Unistellar Network has ambitious goals for 2025. Dr Marchis and Dr. Sgro mention two that hit particularly close to home based on their individual expertise:

• Determining the previously unknown period of a TESS planet candidate.
• Refining satellite orbits through occultation observations of artificial satellites.

Luckily, observations from Unistellar observers can make both of these possible. The Unistellar network continues to prove that citizen scientists play a vital role in expanding our understanding of the universe. With more discoveries on the horizon, 2025 promises to be another exciting year for this growing community.

For an in-depth discussion on these discoveries and what’s ahead, watch the video below or check out "Unistellar + SETI: Citizen Science Q&A (Part 5)" on our YouTube channel.