The Sun emits enormous clouds of electrically charged particles and magnetic fields into space. These eruptions, known as coronal mass ejections, can travel millions of miles and, when directed toward Earth, may affect electrical flow, satellites, radio communication transmissions, navigation systems, and even power grids when they reach their destination. Recording these eruptions as they move away from the Sun is an important part of understanding space weather, but tracking them is a slow and demanding task.
To solve this problem, scientists launched Solar Stormwatch, a citizen-science project that invited people to examine pictures taken by NASA’s STEREO twins. Instead of letting machines do the whole job, the citizens have tracked solar eruptions by hand, marking them on various images of STEREO spacecraft. As a result, the Solar Stormwatch research team has prepared more than 16,000 volunteers’ hand-made tracks of over 38,000 solar eruptions. By the end of 2014, scientists gathered a catalog of 144 coronal mass ejections.
