Patreon Support Video
Channel: cosmiclettuce
Date: 2019-06-25

Hello everyone! This is Matt, also known on the internet as Cosmic Lettuce. I’m an independent research astronomer, and I’m asking you to help support my work.

Astronomy has been my love and passion my entire life. I’m intensely curious and this motivates me to study things in great detail to understand them as much as possible. Being an astronomer, I have the entire universe to study! My interest in the universe began at a very early age. I remember being incredibly inspired by Carl Sagan and his ‘Cosmos’ series back in the early 80’s. I spent a few years as an astronomy student at the University of Arizona. I had a very rare opportunity to join the science staff at the University, so I left school and jumped at the chance. For about six years I worked at the Center for Astronomical Adaptive Optics working on several projects including one of the first adaptive optics instruments to run on a telescope. I went on to work for the IRAF group at the National Optical Astronomy Observatories for a couple years. After that I did some contract work for the Air Force, the University of Arizona, and the University of New Mexico. I’ve also worked on several of my own astronomical projects.

Professional astronomers generally rely on research grants to fund their work. These grants are given out primarily by government agencies responsible for funding research and development projects. Funds are doled out sparingly. The National Science Foundation and NASA’s Small Business Innovative Research program are examples of these. The grants are completely funded by taxpayers, whether the taxpayers know it, approve of it, or not.

Wouldn’t it be so much better and personally satisfying if you were able to fund the projects of your choice? To my knowledge, this is something that hasn’t been tried in the astronomical community: crowd-funded basic astronomical research.

I have a number of research projects that I’ve started and would like to finish. I’d like to remedy this. ‘Finish’ means that the questions are asked and hypotheses are made, the experiment is set up, the data is collected and analyzed, and at least one paper is published on the subject.

These partially complete projects include:

Measurements of the IRIS MgII h and k lines
Mapping the South Atlantic Anomaly with IRIS
Jovian moon photometry
Solar Coronal Hole and Sunspot detection and measurements
Using sound to analyze astronomical data
Using all-sky cameras for meteor and satellite detection, and for stellar photometric measurements
Sky color measurements through twilight
Asteroid detection (primarily Trans-Neptunian Objects) using stellar occultations
Using JPL Horizons data to visualize solar system object dynamics
Measuring the kinematics of the HW Vir eclipsing binary system

There are many more possible projects, but doing all of these listed above will keep me busy for several years.

To focus my efforts on a full-time basis, I will work on (with my Patron’s advice) a couple of these projects. At least once a week I’ll give my patrons an update. Every month (on the day of the perigee -- when the Moon is closest to the Earth) I’ll present a detailed account of what’s been done, what’s happening now, and what still needs to happen to finish the project. An evaluation of the viability of the project will also be made every month. If good progress is being made towards finishing and everyone is pretty satisfied, then I’ll continue. If decent progress isn’t being made, then a decision will need to be made whether to continue with this project or not.

Basic scientific research is tedious, not very glamorous, and inherently non-profit. You will not see a financial gain by supporting me (at least not at first). I don’t necessarily expect to ever capture any headlines with the work I’ll be doing, nor do I want to get rich. But basic research is essential to propel us forward! It’s the raw material from which everything is built.

With full support, the ultimate goals of my research are:

make my methods and findings public
gain a better understanding of our universe
be able to pay for my basic living expenses
have the funds necessary to pay for any hardware needed
have as much fun as possible while being totally dedicated to the projects

The indication that this effort is successful will be when a paper I’ve / we’ve written is referenced in another paper. Besides sharing a little more knowledge and understanding of the universe, this is my ultimate goal. When a paper is referenced, it’s made a difference in someone else’s life and work. What a wonderful thing!

As a patron of my work, you’ll have the satisfaction in knowing that you’re contributing to the livelihood and well-being of a fellow human, following his passion for the intended benefit of everyone.

Please sincerely consider supporting and being a part of an idea who’s time has finally come.

Questions???  Email me: cosmiclettuce AT gmail DOT com

Thank you for listening!