Partners
CosmoQuest is made possible thanks to the contributions of a community of individuals and organizations. Below you can learn about all of our partners. To find our more about the individuals you will meet throughout the site, click over to We are CosmoQuest!
Build Team
The Center for
Science, Technology, Engineering, & Mathematics
Research, Education, & Outreach
at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
The STEM Center helps educators convey the excitement of STEM, ultimately contributing to the development of a scientifically & technically literate citizenry. SIUE's team maintains Cosmo- Quest's software, and develops & assesses educational content.
Astrosphere New Media Association
Dedicated to promoting science through internet-based technologies & distribution, Astrosphere focuses on the creation of technologies & content that enable better astronomy communications & content access for the public. Their team mans the Astrogear shop, and produces Astronomy Cast & 365 days of Astronomy - two of the podcasts you'll find here at CosmoQuest.
Universe Today
Minute by minute, Universe Today reports all that is new in astronomy, space science, and space exploration. Their team provides CosmoQuest with expertise on systems architecture & project management, while keeping us up-to-date in this ever changing field.
Community Partners
Astronomers Without Borders
Astronomers Without Borders fosters understanding and goodwill across national and cultural boundaries by creating relationships through the universal appeal of astronomy. Astronomers Without Borders projects promote sharing. Sharing resources. Sharing knowledge. Sharing inspiration. All through a common interest in something basic and universal. Sharing the sky.
Meta Institute for Computational Astrophysics
The Meta Institute for Computational Astrophysics (MICA) is a professional scientific and educational, non-profit organization based in virtual worlds [VWs]. We are currently using Second Life (SL), and the Intel's OpenSim-based world ScienceSim, and may expand to other venues as the VWs evolve. MICA is essentially an experiment to see how we can use the immersive VR technology as a scientific and scholarly platform.
Planetary Society
Focused on inspiring the people of Earth to explore other worlds, understand our own, & seek life elsewhere, the Planetary Society sponsors novel & innovative projects that will "seed" further exploration. Like CosmoQuest, they believe that our next age of exploration will have everyday people involved in making great discoveries & acquiring new knowledge about our solar system.
Educational Partners
Galileo Teacher Training Program
The goal of the Galileo Teacher Training Program is to train teachers in the effective use and transfer of astronomy tools and existing resources that are freely available on the internet (like CosmoQuest!), into classroom science curricula. The products and techniques developed by this programme can be adapted to reach locations with few resources, as well as high-tech areas.
Ward Beecher Planetarium
The existence of the Ward Beecher Planetarium at Youngstown State University is due to the generosity of Youngstown industrialist and philanthropist Ward Beecher. In accordance with his wishes that the sciences benefit young people, the planetarium has always been free and open to the public. The planetarium is working on creating new shows and new, free resources for other planetariums also authoring their own shows.
Swinburne Astronomy Online
Designed for science educators and communicators, people working in astronomy related fields, amateur astronomers, and anyone with a love of astronomy, Swinburne Astronomy Online (SAO) is a fully online postgraduate degree program in astronomy. At CosmoQuest we recognize there are limits to what we can teach & encourage people who want to learn more to get a degree through SAO.
Data & Science
Canadian Astronomical Data Center
The Canadian Astronomical Data Centre at the Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics is home to many of the world's most accessed astronomical data sets. From the Hubble Legacy Archive to the DAO Spectroscopic Plate Archive, to data from the Digital Sky Survey, CADC is your go to source of stellar (and galactic and planetary) images, spectra, and more - including the data found in projects on this site, including IceInvestigators!
Dawn Mission
As a mission belonging to NASA’s Discovery Program, Dawn delves into the unknown, drives new technology innovations, and achieves what's never been attempted before. In Dawn’s case, it is orbiting one member of the main asteroid belt, Vesta, before heading to gather yet more data at a second, Ceres. With CosmoQuest, you can help make the first maps of Vesta's features.
Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) has forever changed our view of the moon, literally bringing it into sharper focus and showing us the whole globe in unprecedented detail. With CosmoQuest's Moon Mapper project you can help scientists extend our understanding of the Earth's nearest neighbor.
Hubble Space Telescope Archive Program
For over 20 years, the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) has made amazing discoveries about our universe. While HST's mission will eventually end, the data it's gathered will continue to reveal unique insights through the Hubble Archive Program. With CosmoQuest, you can annotate images, and help remove image artifacts, making the data even more useful for future researchers.
MESSENGER
The MErcury Surface Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) Mission is returning the first new spacecraft data from Mercury since the Mariner 10 mission over 30 years ago. With CosmoQuest you can become part of the team using this new data to understand the the planet nearest the Sun.
New Horizons
The New Horizons mission is on a voyager to visit the last of the solar system's classic 9 planets. After its 2015 flyby, the spacecraft will have enough fuel on board to visit possibly two additional icy bodies in the outer solar system. With the IceInvestigators project you can help us discover candidates for exploration!
Equipment Partners
Created as part of the 2009 International Year of Astronomy, the Galileoscope Project has designed a simple refracting telescope that is sturdy enough for kids, can be used as an optical bench in the classroom, and gives anyone a view on the sky better than anything Galileo ever saw! Enjoy the rings of Saturn, and explore bright star clusters. Galileoscopes are part of many CosmoQuest teacher kits, and we support their "Telescopes for Teachers" program.