Baz Posted August 12, 2010 Share Posted August 12, 2010 I was recently referred to a cool site that allows anyone to help astronomers classify galaxies. Hubble and other space observatories have discovered millions of these galaxies and astronomers need help in getting them all classified. In the process of this project, new types of galaxies have been classified and several other mysterious kinds of objects are also being analyzed. The way the site works is that it will show you a picture of a galaxy, and it'll ask you several questions about its appearance in order to classify it. You never know whether your gonna get a typical smooth cluster galaxy, or a nice spiral one. You may end up finding a couple other interesting things as well, such as conjunction or a supernova. There's also a forum there where people show off the weird things they have found and debate about what they might be. A couple years ago, a Dutch school teacher found an interesting object that has since been called "Hanny's Voorwerp" which is an interesting cluster of gas or dust that's being backlit by an object behind it, though its not fully understood. Keep in mind that the galaxies that you are looking at have never been seen before. You are looking at something that no human has ever seen before. These were all found and imaged by Hubble and other robotic spacecraft, then downloaded and uploaded onto the site remotely, so you are the first one to see it. Here's an interesting one that I found: What you see there is your typical smooth elliptical galaxy in the background, but in front of that there's a strange orange orb like object. That's a Star. This is called conjunction, when one object is imaged in front of another object, and can look like they're close to one another when they are millions of light years apart (the star being in our galaxy, the galaxy imaged being extremely far away). I would definitely recommend checking it out, just for the thrill of discovery http://www.galaxyzoo.org/classify And I would also recommend looking at this: http://www.galaxyzoo.org/how_to_take_part before doing any classification, so that you know how to answer the questions accurately (you are contributing to major scientific data after all). There are similar sites like this where you can help hunt for supernovae and classify regions and craters of the moon: http://www.zooniverse.org/home?ticket=ST-1281569378rF501C5DBB909F060B8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aki Dazrold Posted August 12, 2010 Share Posted August 12, 2010 /8| What is it with you and space. It's all you ever post here on the rare times you actually post. IT'S NOT A BAD THING THOUGH. Anyway, this is a very cool find. I'd look into it if I felt like doing this. But I speak for myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sonic322 Posted August 12, 2010 Share Posted August 12, 2010 that is awesome, I may do this to kill some time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe9412 Posted August 12, 2010 Share Posted August 12, 2010 I thought this was a game involving aliens, it still sounds fun though. I will try it when i can. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baz Posted August 12, 2010 Author Share Posted August 12, 2010 /8| What is it with you and space. Astrophysics is my field of study after all :P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lair Posted August 12, 2010 Share Posted August 12, 2010 GIMME. NOW. /8| What is it with you and space. Astrophysics is my field of study after all :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aki Dazrold Posted August 12, 2010 Share Posted August 12, 2010 THIS EXPLAINS EVERYTHING Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe9412 Posted August 12, 2010 Share Posted August 12, 2010 Do you research about aliens since they involve space? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baz Posted August 12, 2010 Author Share Posted August 12, 2010 Do you research about aliens since they involve space? No but I am researching extrasolar planets (which are planets that go around other stars), which could one day lead to the discovery of an Earth-like planet that could harbor life... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe9412 Posted August 14, 2010 Share Posted August 14, 2010 Like Planet U lol sounds fun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sonic322 Posted August 15, 2010 Share Posted August 15, 2010 I hope a planet like planet U is found some day it would be so awesome if it was discovered by an RRU members Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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