You, too, can help science a.k.a. galaxy quest

Post by **Impenitent** » Mon Jul 16, 2007 12:28 am

Taken directly from a KnowledgeNews missive:

Astronomers at Oxford University are enlisting ordinary internet users to help them unravel intergalactic mysteries--by peering into corners of the universe that no human has seen before. Why? Because your brain is better than any computer at sorting galaxies.

The project, called "Galaxy Zoo," aims to categorize a million galaxies out beyond the Milky Way. That's just a sliver of the more than 100 billion galaxies thought to fill the observable universe. But it would still be the biggest-ever galactic census and a major astronomical advance.

Basically, astronomers classify galaxies either as "elliptical" or "spiral" (or as mysteriously "irregular"). But they're not sure how elliptical and spiral galaxies are related, or how their relationship might bear on the galactic lifecycle. As the Galaxy Zoo website puts it:

"Astronomers have spent many decades trying to measure basic galaxy properties such as age, mass, or dustiness that may give us some clues as to how they formed and evolved and what precisely the connection between spiral and elliptical galaxies is. However, most studies of galaxies so far have only looked at a few dozen or hundred galaxies in the nearby universe."

Now, thanks to cool new technology--and to long-term scanning efforts like the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS)--astronomers have many more galaxies to study. But they also have a problem: how to look at them all. That's where you come in.

The Galaxy Zoo team is hoping to find 30,000 people to log in to their website, peruse pictures of galaxies from the SDSS, and determine whether the galaxies are elliptical or spiral--and, if spiral, which way they seem to be spinning. Don't worry if you don't yet know the difference between an elliptical and a spiral. Galaxy Zoo promises on-the-job training through a brief tutorial.

What's in it for you? A chance to help science advance--and to see something truly unique. As one team member notes, "these images were taken by a robotic telescope and processed automatically, so the odds are that when you log on, that first galaxy you see will be one that no human has seen before."

Plus, you get the joy of outperforming even the coolest astronomical computer systems--because, when it comes to pattern recognition, your brain puts them to shame. As the folks at Galaxy Zoo put it, "any computer program we write to sort our galaxies into categories would do a reasonable job, but it would also inevitably throw out the unusual, the weird, and the wonderful. To rescue these interesting systems which have a story to tell, we need you."

http://www.galaxyzoo.org/

Post by **yovargas** » Mon Jul 16, 2007 12:53 am

Cool!
I judged a few. That's pretty neat. A nice way to kill some time at work.

Post by **Primula Baggins** » Mon Jul 16, 2007 1:05 am

I judged some, too. How could I pass up the possibility of being the first human to see a whole galaxy? My geeky toes are tingling.

Thanks, Impy!

Post by **Inanna** » Mon Jul 16, 2007 8:03 am

Wow. Am gonna get onto this as soon as I get back to PA. Thanks Imp,

Post by **Jnyusa** » Mon Jul 16, 2007 8:14 am

Very cool, Imp!

I'm going to share this with my kids. And my friends! And my students!

Post by **Impenitent** » Mon Jul 16, 2007 1:14 pm

I knew it would go down well in this crowd.

Post by **Frelga** » Mon Jul 16, 2007 8:55 pm

Very cool, Impish!

I took a small part in something similar, when Amazon sponsored a search for a prominent database guru who was missing at sea on his yacht. They let people look at the satellite pictures and highlight anything that looked like the yacht. Unfortunately, the man was never found.

Post by **narya** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 7:35 am

Ack! It's very hard to stop. Like potato chips ...

Post by **vison** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 4:30 pm

I am soooooo up for this.

Post by **yovargas** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 4:46 pm

This is fun.

What do you think this one is:
Stuff!

I'm voting ellipse way more than spiral. Making me wonder if that's right.

Post by **Primula Baggins** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 4:53 pm

I see two nuclei, so it could be a barred spiral, but I don't see any arm structure.

I don't know which kinds of galaxies are more common. Spirals tend to evolve into ellipses, and a collision usually produces an ellipse—at least, that's what I remember from Astronomy 202.

Post by **yovargas** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 4:58 pm

I see some possible arms. They're reeeeally faint sometimes.

This one's rad!

You think that blue one's coming in for a merger?

Post by **Primula Baggins** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 5:08 pm

It's so hard to judge, since they could be millions of lightyears apart and just in almost the same direction, so they appear to overlap.

I've tried to call these mergers only when I can see that the galaxies seem to be affecting each other's shape. In this image, that hasn't happened.

Post by **Holbytla** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 6:05 pm

Reminds me a little bit of the SETI@home thing.
Wonder if I am still a member there?

Post by **Sunsilver** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 6:29 pm

Holby, Seti has totally changed. However, you can still transfer your account over to the new server, and get credit for your hours.

Here's the TORC page:

http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/team_dis ... amid=32621

Unfortunately, the server is down for maintenance at the moment. However, here is the Seti homepage, where you can download the new version.

http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/

Post by **Primula Baggins** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 6:29 pm

It is like SETI@home, except that it's our hardware they want, not our computers' hardware. Kind of fun.

Post by **Holbytla** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 6:35 pm

Only problem is, my hardware is short circuiting.

Post by **Primula Baggins** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 6:56 pm

<pat pat pat>

Have some nice soothing tea, Holby dear.

Post by **Holbytla** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 8:29 pm

Long Island Ice Tea?

As we peer past beeellions and beeelions of starz......

100 billion divided by 30,000

naught x naught + naught
carry the naught

3333333.3333333333333333333333333

Nope. Don't think I can do that many.
And with my luck I would only find odd ones.