Master Your Unistellar Telescope & Do Science That Matters - Winter 2026

Wednesdays
Jan 21, Feb 4, Feb 18, Mar 4, Mar 18
11am–2pm Pacific / 2pm–5pm Eastern
Recordings of all sessions will be available for all registrants.

Early Bird Registration Through 12/31: $199, Regular Registration 1/1-1/21: $249

Your Unistellar telescope can capture extraordinary images — this workshop shows you how to turn those images into scientific discoveries. Designed for new and returning Unistellar owners, this five-part series goes well beyond “how to use your telescope.” You’ll learn how astronomers interpret light, analyze brightness and color, and uncover the physics behind nebulae, star clusters, variable stars, and exoplanets. No prior astronomy experience required.

Note: This is not an astrophotography or telescope-operations course. It is a hands-on introduction to scientific data analysis using your own Unistellar observations.

What You’ll Learn

Across five interactive sessions led by astronomers from the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (ASP) and the SETI Institute/Unistellar, you’ll explore:

    •    How stars form, evolve, and vary in brightness

    •    How nebulae and supernova remnants reveal their structure through light

    •    How exoplanets produce subtle dips in starlight

    •    How astronomers extract insight from pixels, color channels, and time-series data

Using Julia and Pluto notebooks, the same modern tools astronomers use, you’ll analyze real Unistellar FITS files and quantify your observations like a scientist.

What You’ll Do

    •    Load and explore Unistellar data

    •    Work through guided Pluto notebooks using your own Unistellar observations

    •    Perform differential photometry

    •    Build and interpret light curves

    •    Contribute observations to global citizen-science campaigns

Community & Support

All participants receive access to the Unistellar Slack workspace — a global community where observers share results, ask questions, and collaborate. Weekly office hours with instructors offer one-on-one help with data analysis, notebook workflows, and science targets.  Participants in the Fall 2025 cohort who engaged in Slack and office hours reported significantly higher learning gains and satisfaction.

Technical Setup

Before Session 1, you’ll install Julia and Pluto notebooks. A guided setup document and optional Install Clinic are provided. No coding experience required. Participants in the previous cohort successfully installed everything even if they had never used scientific software before.

Early Bird Registration Through 12/31: $199, Regular Registration 1/1-1/21: $249

Attendance/Refund Policy

Live attendance is strongly encouraged and expected in order to get the most out of the interactive session. A recording will be available for those who cannot attend live or who would like to review the content. Full refund is available for cancellations up to 14 days prior to the start of the workshop. If you need to cancel please email learn@astrosociety.org.