This episode of Astronomy Cast is brought to you by Swinburn Astronomy Online, the world's longest running online astronomy degree program.

Visit astronomy.swin.edu.au for more information.

Astronomy Cast, episode 290 from Monday, January 21, 2013, failed stars.

Welcome to Astronomy Cast, our weekly facts-based journey through the cosmos, where we help you understand not only what we know, but how we know what we know.

My name is Fraser Kane, I'm the publisher of Universe Today, and with me is Dr. Pamela Gaye, a professor at Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, and the director of CosmoQuest.

Hey Pamela, how you doing?

I'm doing well, how are you doing Fraser?

Good, did you notice I added that director of CosmoQuest?

I did, that's very exciting.

What we've been doing CosmoQuest for so long, and we keep forgetting to include it in all the things that we do.

So for anyone who's never heard of CosmoQuest, what is it?

It is an online research facility designed for the public, so we worked bringing anyone out there who's interested in becoming part of solar system and space exploration,

an opportunity to engage in the same ways that scientists do.

We have citizen science activities, we have weekly seminars, we have a whole range of different ways, including forums.

We have a whole variety of ways for you to get involved, and I hope you'll take the time to check it out at CosmoQuest.org.

Yeah, you can classify creators on the moon, search for IC objects in the solar system.

You know, really our goal is to try and help regular folk, combine with scientists to do real science, and this is what we're doing.

And we're succeeding.

Absolutely, yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, no, it's awesome.

Okay, great.

...