Citizen Science & AstroBin

The "submit your data, contribute to a paper" tier — established networks where amateurs make real, citable contributions to professional astronomy: AAVSO for variable stars, ALPO for solar/lunar/planetary, ARAS for spectroscopy, Unistellar / SETI for occultations, plus the AstroBin platform that's become the de-facto image hosting + EXIF + equipment metadata standard for sharing astrophotography in 2024–26.

For the imaging stack feeding submissions see Image Acquisition and Deep-Sky Stacking; for spectroscopy submissions see Spectroscopy; for satellite-side citizen science see SatNOGS & Pro-Am; for meteor-side see Meteor & All-Sky Cameras; for self-hosted photo archives see Self-Hosted Photos & Media.

Variable stars — AAVSO

• ★ ★ AAVSO (American Association of Variable Star Observers) — free / donation. The gold-standard variable-star database, since 1911. Visual, CCD, and DSLR submissions; ~1.5 million observations per year; data used by professional astronomers. 30,000+ contributors.
  • Software: VPHOT (free web-based photometry), AAVSO VStar (free Java analysis tool), MaxIm DL / AstroImageJ / Astropy photutils for reduction.
  • AAVSO VSX — variable-star catalog, free.
  • AAVSOnet — pro-grade remote telescopes accessible for AAVSO members.
  • https://www.aavso.org

Solar / lunar / planetary — ALPO + BAA

• ★ ALPO (Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers, US) — free; collaborative observing programs for Mars apparitions, Jupiter Red Spot longitudes, Saturn ring tilts, lunar transient lunar phenomena, comet imaging.
• BAA (British Astronomical Association) — paid membership; UK-equivalent; section-based: Lunar, Solar, Variable Star, Comet, Aurora, Spectroscopy.
• Sociedad Astronomica del Plata — South American spectroscopy contributions.

Comets / asteroids

• MPC (Minor Planet Center) — submit astrometry of asteroids / comets; pro-am bridge.
• ★ Asteroid Survey / Hubble Asteroid Hunter — Zooniverse project; find asteroids in archival HST images by clicking through Zooniverse interface. Has produced published catalogs. Free.
• Comet observers — contribute photometry to MPC and the Cometary Workshop database.

Occultations

• ★ IOTA (International Occultation Timing Association) — free / membership. Time stellar occultations by asteroids; combine with neighbors' timings to measure asteroid sizes / shapes to ~km accuracy. Software: Tangra (free Win), Occult (free), Occult Watcher (free pass predictions), pyOccult.
• ★ Unistellar Network — see Smart Telescopes; has its own occultation campaign system tied to SETI Institute.

Exoplanet transits

• Exoplanet Watch (NASA / IPAC) — free; submit transit observations of known exoplanets to refine orbital periods.
• TESS Asteroseismic / TASOC — pro/am bridge.
• AstroImageJ — free; the standard transit-photometry reduction tool.

Light pollution / dark sky

• ★ GLOBE at Night — free; submit naked-eye limiting-magnitude observations to a global light-pollution database. Phone or web. Long-running.
• Loss of the Night (app) — free Android; submits to GLOBE at Night.
• DarkSky International (formerly IDA) — advocacy; not a data network but the policy / certification body for IDA Dark Sky Places.

Meteors / fireballs

See Meteor & All-Sky Cameras. Global Meteor Network, NASA AMS, IMO all accept amateur data.

Sharing platforms — AstroBin

• ★ ★ AstroBin — free tier + paid (~$45/yr Premium). The 2024–26 de-facto astrophotography image platform. Auto plate-solves uploads, overlays catalog grid, displays full equipment metadata (mount + scope + camera + filters + filter wheel + guiding rig + processing pipeline + total integration time), groups, IOTD voting, AAPOD-equivalent recognition. Free tier limited to slow uploads / image count; Premium unlocks unlimited, image revisions, group privacy.
  • https://www.astrobin.com
• Cloudy Nights gallery — free; large user base; older.
• Reddit r/astrophotography — free; image-only.
• Flickr astro groups — declining.
• Instagram / Twitter (X) — for casual sharing; metadata gets stripped.

For self-hosted gallery / archive of your own raw + processed work see Self-Hosted Photos & Media and Photo DAM & Management.

"Awards" worth chasing

• APOD (NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day) — daily curated.
• AAPOD2 (Amateur APOD) — daily curated.
• AstroBin IOTD / TPN — daily curated; algorithmic + jury.
• IAPY (Royal Observatory Greenwich Insight Astronomy Photographer of the Year) — annual; competition.
• Trevor Jones / AstroBackyard / Cuiv the Lazy Geek YouTube reposts — the modern career-influencer side.

Books / education

• Sky and Telescope magazine (paid) — print + digital subscriptions.
• Astronomy Magazine — paid; broader audience.
• AAS Sky — free pro newsletter.
• Astro at Home (Trevor Jones) — popular YouTube + community.
• Astronomy Magazine podcast / AAVSO Webinars — free pro/am content.

What's changing in 2024–2026

• AstroBin Premium adoption mainstream — equipment metadata + plate-solving + IOTD makes it the standard.
• Unistellar / Vespera / Seestar APIs for citizen science — smart-scope-driven occultation / exoplanet campaigns; making participation accessible to non-experts.
• AAVSO has surged in CCD/CMOS contributions as cooled cameras went mainstream.
• GLOBE at Night continues steady growth.
• "AI assistance" disclosure norms at AstroBin; community pressure to flag use of BlurX / NoiseX / generative tools.

License / pricing summary

• Free: AAVSO submission (donations encouraged), ALPO, IOTA, GLOBE at Night, MPC, Zooniverse, AstroBin free tier.
• Paid (~$45/yr): AstroBin Premium.
• Paid memberships (~$50/yr): BAA, AAVSO Patron, IOTA Member.
• Software for reduction: free (AstroImageJ, VPHOT, Tangra, Occult, AAVSO VStar).

Pick this if…

• Variable stars: AAVSO + AstroImageJ.
• Asteroid astrometry: MPC + Astrometrica.
• Solar / lunar / planetary observing programs: ALPO or BAA.
• Spectroscopy contribution: ARAS — see Spectroscopy.
• Asteroid occultations: IOTA + Tangra + Occult Watcher.
• Exoplanet transits: Exoplanet Watch + AstroImageJ.
• Light pollution: GLOBE at Night.
• Best place to share images: AstroBin (free tier first, Premium when you need more).
• Smart-scope citizen science: Unistellar Network.