Citizen scientist scans the skies

The year was March 1973. Chris Stephan was 16, a young man who fell in love with the night sky when he was 5 years old.

A few years ago, Stephan's seventh-grade science teacher let him borrow his telescope for a big star party in Cleveland, Ohio. Professional astronomers gave a night lecture and participants could observe the constellations under a big dome.

Stephan was hooked.

In March of 1973, he located his first variable star. It was Z Ursae Majoris or Z UMa, a semi regular star located in the bowl of the Big Dipper. Variable stars are so called because their apparent brightness changes over time.

Since it's easy to locate, Z UMa is often considered a beginner's star. Z UMa started for Stephan what became a lifelong love affair with variable stars.

In the next 36 years Stephan would make more than 35,000 observations of variable stars.

Those who watch these stars plot to see how their brightness (or magnitudes in their parlance) changes in relationship to other stars in that constellation.

The patterns corroborate what scientists already know about these stars, reveal new things  or even somehow explain mysteries about them perplexing astronomers for years.

It's the latter that has drawn Stephan to his latest project, twinkling 2,000 light years away from the Earth.

Thursday morning he woke up at 5:30 to see for the first time the eclipsing binary star that has got astronomy circles gung-ho about solving its 150-year question mark.

Its name is Epsilon Aurigae, a bright star located in the pentagon-shaped constellation Auriga, the charioteer.

Binary stars are two stars that orbit close to each other and almost appear as a single point of light because of their distance from the Earth. Since they eclipse, it means that one star passes the other and blocks its light for a certain period of time.

The intriguing thing about Epsilon Aurigae is that it's not known what exactly is eclipsing what, Stephan said. According to some conjectures, an opaque cloud could be doing just that.

From the time it goes into eclipse in August, until it comes out of it in 2 1/2 years, Stephan and others following it will be plotting its brightness as its pans out through its eclipse.

The observations could help scientists better understand the mechanics behind the eclipse and the star.

Epsilon Aurigae eclipses once every 27.1 years. There have been only four records of its eclipse, so any chance to do so is worth the wait, Stephan said.

His involvement with the mysterious star goes beyond personal interest.

This year, as part of the International Year of Astronomy, The American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO), of which Stephan is a member, is hosting a three-year effort to galvanize ordinary people to become citizen scientists through their observations of the star.

Stephan is going to be one of the speakers at a conference AAVSO is hosting at Adler Planetarium in Chicago Aug. 5-7.

"Our goal is to teach average people (teachers can teach their students) to make valuable observations of this famous and strange eclipsing binary star," he wrote in a press release. "Citizen Scientists can then submit their observations to the AAVSO and all the data will be available for use by professional astronomers."

Citizen scientists are the foot soldiers of astronomers, Stephan explained. It's impossible for astronomers to keep track on the zillions of stellar bodies in the sky. Amateur star watchers alert scientists to new developments through their hobby, he added.

Stephan's interest in amateur astronomy goes beyond variable stars.

When the Halley's Comet last appeared in the inner Solar System in 1986, Stephan was there making drawings and taking photos as part of the international effort to document the once-every-76-year phenomena.

He remembers the endless stream of meteors around him during the 2000-2001 Leonid Meteor Shower while in Jacksonville. He's seen supernovas and observed the moon. The only thing that has eluded him is a total eclipse.

Since June, Stephan also has worked with the Riverwoods Field Lab as an educational specialist, setting astronomy projects in the night for students and adults.

Riverwoods' main mission is to support research and educational activities related to the restoration of the Kissimmee River and the greater Everglades watershed.

Away from the night lights of the city, its location offers a great chance to probe the skies without any distraction, he said.

"It's pitch black out there," he said. "It's beautiful."

A full-time Avon Park Middle School science teacher and 24-year veteran of the Highlands County School District, Stephan also incorporates his hands-on teaching philosophy in class.

When he lectures his students about sun spots, he whips out his telescopes and lets them discover firsthand the dark spots on the sun's surface.

A lesson on recycling is incomplete without Stephan's annual trip to the county recycling center.

A "shed" at his home is fitted up with binoculars and telescopes and even has a name, the "Robert Clyde Observatory."

For the Bible-believing Christian, the mysteries of space and outer space illuminate the bigness of God's creation and the smallness of man.

"It shows God's handiwork," he said. "There's too much out there to think 'Phew! It just happened.'"