Welcome! Check out this short YouTube video for a quick introduction to the project.
Hunt for clues where the Sun’s solar wind collides with Earth’s magnetic shield.
Learn moreThere are two workflows. New to the project? Start with "Chaotic or Peaceful Classification". As you gain experience, try "Mixed Classification" to identify where these two types overlap.
Zooniverse Talk
Chat with the research team and other volunteers!
Shock Detectives Statistics
View more statsEvery click counts! Join Shock Detectives's community to complete this project and help researchers produce important results.
Message from the researcher
The bow shock is Earth's first warning to the solar wind. This invisible barrier slows and heats the solar wind from a supersonic stream to a manageable flow, preparing the magnetosphere to defend against space weather effects.
Shock DetectivesAbout Shock Detectives
The Sun is always sending out a stream of fast-moving particles called the solar wind. When this solar wind reaches Earth, it crashes into our planet’s magnetic shield. This creates a kind of "shock", like a splash in a river, where the solar wind and Earth’s magnetic field meet. That’s where our investigation begins.
The Sun’s magnetic field, which stretches across the whole solar system, changes how this shock behaves. Sometimes the shock looks "peaceful", staying calm and smooth. Other times it becomes "chaotic", with swirling, jumpy patterns. As a Shock Detective, your job is to look at real data from a NASA mission and decide if the data looks "peaceful" or "chaotic". Your keen eye will help scientists spot patterns, understand this boundary better, and learn how it works.
By helping solve the mystery of Earth’s shock, you’ll also be helping scientists study shocks all over the universe—from exploding stars to faraway planets. The data is your evidence, and the universe is ready for your discoveries.
This work is funded by NASA.
Image credit: Mark Garlick/Science Photo Library via Getty Images
Logo credit: GPT