In an unprecedented achievement, citizen scientists have set a new record for the SETI Institute and Unistellar, comprising the highest number of observers providing data on a single event. Amateur astronomers participating in the SETI Institute’s and Unistellar’s Cosmic Cataclysms program conducted a groundbreaking observation of supernova (SN) 2023ixf. The observations, which began just one hour after the supernova’s first known appearance, have generated the longest continuous light curve of this supernova gathered by citizen scientists that has been published to date.

Join Simon Steel, Deputy Director of the Carl Sagan Center for Research, as he discusses this record-breaking citizen science project with researcher Lauren Sgro.

Press release: https://www.seti.org/press-release/record-breaking-team-citizen-scientists-contribute-data-pinwheel-galaxy-supernova

Research note: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2515-5172/ace41f

Recorded live 27 July 2023.