A meaningful task
People should understand what they are looking for and how their classification helps the research.
Citizen science astronomy apps and observatories
Pocket Science turns specialist astronomy tasks into mobile and web experiences that invite the public into real research—and keeps the community and infrastructure working after launch.
A history that began with the scale of the solar system
Transit of Venus launched the Pocket Science citizen-science story in 2012 by asking whether worldwide smartphone observers could repeat the historic experiment for estimating the Earth–Sun distance. Since then our astronomy work has expanded to calibrated measurement, long-running communities, public classification and an active university research platform.
Black Hole Finder
Black Hole Finder connects volunteer classification with incoming BlackGEM observations, discussion, researcher review, machine-learning support and selected telescope follow-up. It is a complete citizen science observatory rather than a standalone screen: web and mobile applications, community, reports, data flow and continuing technical operation work together.
Use Black Hole Finder and view selected follow-up reports, or read the project case study.
What makes astronomy participation work
Feedback and learning
Guidance, discussion and visible follow-up give participants a reason to improve and return.
Research connection
Public work must reach a usable review, data or decision workflow for the astronomy team.
Continuity
Hosting, support, app releases and community care remain necessary when the initial grant ends.
Build one tool or the complete observatory
Pocket Science can deliver a focused classification app, connect to an existing archive, add a researcher dashboard, or take responsibility for the complete self-hosted service. Every component can be tailored, including unusual interactions, multilingual delivery, APIs, machine learning, outreach and end-user support.
Claims stay with the evidence
A citizen classification is not automatically a discovery, and participation does not guarantee authorship or telescope time. We design the workflow so candidates, confidence, follow-up and researcher decisions remain distinguishable—while still giving the public a genuine role in the scientific process.
Bring the public closer to the sky
Tell us the dataset, task, participants, research workflow and intended lifetime. Pocket Science can help shape the right app or observatory.