The Great American Eclipse
and
Family Reunion
Citizen Scientist App: Global Observer
The Reunion:
What a wonderful experience. We began planning our family reunion two years ago to coincide with the total eclipse. My niece and her husband live on several acres just south of Carbondale. It was the perfect time and place to see the eclipse. The sky was partially cloudy to the north but clear above us. My family of 10 took the train down Friday morning and returned Monday evening. Another 15 joined us. It was a perfect and amazing weekend.
Citizen Scientist and the
Global Observer App by NASA:
The free Global Observer App can be downloaded from your App Store for iPhone or Android.
With the app you can collect data and easily share it with NASA or the public. There are two projects I participated in, an ongoing cloud observation study and the eclipse cloud and temperature change.
The app does most of the work. When you begin a new observation the app takes you through a series of cloud pictures and you select those most like the clouds you observe. You then point your phone N, S, E, and W, up and down. When you point your phone in a particular direction two circles appear. You turn the phone clockwise or counterclockwise to get the two circles to line up. When they are aligned the camera automatically takes a picture and labels it. The app saves the data until you are connected to wifi then you hit the "send" button and it goes to NASA.
A unique feature of the app is its ability to warn you when a satellite is flying over. If you take a cloud observation at that time the app will send a satellite picture to you of your location, taken at the same time!