Welcome back to our series on NASA’s Citizen Science projects! In our last post, we explored Galaxy Zoo, where you can help classify galaxies from deep space. This time, we’re staying a little closer to home—on Mars! Well, not on Mars exactly, but you’ll be helping scientists study its skies in a project called Cloudspotting on Mars: Shapes.

This is your chance to become a Martian weather watcher, no spacesuit required.

What is Cloudspotting on Mars?

Cloudspotting on Mars is a project hosted on the Zooniverse platform where you look at real data from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). The goal? Help scientists find and study clouds in Mars’ atmosphere. These clouds can tell us a lot about the planet’s weather, seasons, and even its history.

The MRO has been orbiting Mars since 2006, snapping thousands of pictures and collecting tons of atmospheric data. But scientists need your help looking through it all—especially the special graphs that show temperature changes in the atmosphere. These graphs sometimes have “arches” that reveal where clouds are forming. Your job is to find those arches and help track how clouds behave on the Red Planet.

Who’s Behind the Project?

This project is a collaboration between NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and the Zooniverse platform. The scientists working on Cloudspotting on Mars are trying to learn how and where thin clouds form high in Mars’ atmosphere, especially clouds made of carbon dioxide ice (yep, that’s dry ice!). Understanding these clouds helps researchers build better models of the Martian climate—and maybe even figure out how to predict Mars weather in the future.

What Makes Mars Clouds So Interesting?

Mars doesn’t have the same kind of thick, wet atmosphere we have here on Earth. It’s cold and dry, and the air is super thin. But even in this dry air, clouds still form—sometimes from water vapor, but often from carbon dioxide, which freezes into tiny particles and floats high above the surface.

These clouds can form more easily in certain seasons or over certain parts of Mars. By spotting these clouds and learning their shapes, scientists can discover patterns that help explain how Mars’ atmosphere works. It’s like being a weather detective on another planet!

How the Project Works

When you join Cloudspotting on Mars, you’ll look at special images called “limb scans.” These show how temperatures change with height in Mars’ atmosphere. Your job is to look for arches in the data that might be caused by clouds.

Don’t worry—it’s not as tricky as it sounds! Each graph comes with easy instructions, and there are examples to help you know what to look for. The more arches you and other volunteers find, the more complete the cloud maps of Mars become.

How DAS Members Can Join In

This project is open to everyone—you don’t have to be a member of the Denver Astronomical Society to help out. But if you are a DAS member, it’s a great way to get involved in planetary science without needing a telescope or a rocket ship.

Here’s how to get started:

1. Go to www.zooniverse.org
2. Search for “Cloudspotting on Mars: Shapes”
3. Sign up for a free account
4. Start spotting those clouds!

And if you’re excited about what you find, feel free to share your experience on the DAS Slack or at a meeting. You might just inspire someone else to start cloudspotting, too.

Keep Looking Up

Cloudspotting on Mars is a fun, hands-on way to explore another planet’s weather from your own home. By helping scientists find clouds in Mars’ sky, you’re contributing to real research and learning about our neighboring world at the same time.

Stay tuned for the next post in our Citizen Science series, where we’ll highlight another project that lets you team up with NASA. Until then, keep your eyes on the skies—on Earth and Mars!