Citizen Science Astronomy with a Network of Small Telescope: The Launch and Deployment of JWST

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates how a global network of citizen-operated small telescopes successfully monitored JWST's deployment and early operational phases, showcasing the potential of citizen science for large-scale astronomical campaigns.

Contribution

It introduces a coordinated citizen science approach for real-time monitoring of JWST's deployment and early activity, highlighting the effectiveness of small telescopes operated by amateurs.

Findings

Detected key phases of JWST deployment through lightcurve analysis

Observed small variations indicating possible mirror deployment or orientation changes

Proved the viability of citizen science for continuous space telescope monitoring

Abstract

We present a coordinated campaign of observations to monitor the brightness of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) as it travels toward the second Earth-Sun Lagrange point and unfolds using the network ofUnistellar digital telescopes. Those observations collected by citizen astronomers across the world allowed us to detect specific phases such as the separation from the booster, glare due to a change of orientation after a maneuver, the unfurling of the sunshield, and deployment of the primary mirror. After deployment of the sunshield on January 6 2022, the 6-h lightcurve has a significant amplitude and shows small variations due to the artificial rotation of the space telescope during commissionning. These variations could be due to the deployment of the primary mirror or some changes in orientation of the space telescope. This work illustrates the power of a worldwide array of small telescopes, operated by citizen astronomers, to conduct large scientific campaigns over a long timeframe. In the future, our network and others will continue to monitor JWST to detect potential degradations to the space environment by comparing the evolution of the lightcurve.