At set time periods within each year, the project asks people to count the number of stars that they can see from their location and report it to the project's website. The coordinating researchers compile this information to produce a public, freely available map of global light pollution. By September 2011, almost 70,000 measurements had been made.[1] The use of data collected by the public makes the program an example of citizen science.[2] Globe at Night began as a NASA educational program in the US organized by the NOAO, and was expanded internationally during the 2009 International Year of Astronomy;[3] it is an offshoot of the GLOBE Program, which focusses on school-based science education.