Seeing the Bigger Picture: Rosetta Mission Amateur Observing Campaign and Lessons for the Future

Amateur astronomers can make useful contributions to the study of comets. They add temporal coverage and multiscale observations that can aid the study of fast-changing and large-scale comet features. We document and review the amateur observing campaign set up to complement the Rosetta space mission, including the data submitted to date, and consider the campaign’s effectiveness in the light of experience from previous amateur comet campaigns. We report the results of surveys of campaign participants, the amateur astronomy community, and schools who participated in a comet 46P observing campaign. We draw lessons for future campaigns, which include the need for clarity of objectives; recognizing the wider impact campaigns can have on increasing science capital; clear, consistent, timely, and tailored guidance; easy upload procedures with built-in quality control; and regular communication, feedback, and recognition.