maureenford
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 04/27/05
Posts: 754
Loc: New Paltz, NY
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Not sure which forum to post this to but just got the alumni magazine from Johns Hopkins University, Zanvyl Krieger School of Arts and Science. There is a FABULOUS article in there about how amateurs are helping professionals by identifying the types of galaxies seen in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. One Dutch amateur astronomer noticed an unusual blue blob in one of the pictures and the professionals couldn't identify it so it's now been called "Hanny's Voorwoop" (Dutch for object.) It seems the primary purpose of the site is to go through the tremendous amount of data collected by Sloan and then catagorize the types of galaxies. Another search object was to look for rare blue elliptical galaxies. Anyway, there's a lot more to be done. All 118,000 volunteers are listed as co-authors on every paper published by including a link to a site with all their names. Seems like this might be of interest to some of the folks on this site. Please check it out: www.galaxyzoo.com
Maureen
PS Mods please feel free to move this to a forum where it will get the most exposure. Thanks!
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Discovery 12.5" TD on Scopebuggy
with Argo Navis and Feathertouch focuser
27mmPan, 13mm & 8mmEthos, 6mm Radian
Howie Glatter laser and Blug
Coronado PST
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maureenford
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 04/27/05
Posts: 754
Loc: New Paltz, NY
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Sorry had the wrong site address:
http://www.galaxyzoo.org
Just signed up myself. There's a great tutorial in how to identify various types of galaxies. Its kind of addictive and fun.
Maureen
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Discovery 12.5" TD on Scopebuggy
with Argo Navis and Feathertouch focuser
27mmPan, 13mm & 8mmEthos, 6mm Radian
Howie Glatter laser and Blug
Coronado PST
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desertstars
Say What?
Reged: 11/05/03
Posts: 29479
Loc: Tucson, AZ
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This was relocated here from the Beginner's Forum.
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Tom W.
SVP8 'She turned me into a 3-legged Newt' EQ
Ralph, the All-Purpose 102mm Refractor
Under the Desert Stars
It is a plain road from the earth to the stars though mortal feet can not tread it. Garret P. Serviss 1888
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AleX`G
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 05/29/06
Posts: 877
Loc: Scotland UK
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Very cool website it seems a good idea but i would have thought theyd be able to write a program to classify galaxies with at least as good an accuracy as an amatuer.
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Celestron/Vixen 102 f9.8
Vixen GP
Canon EF300mm f4L USM (non IS)
Canon 300D
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Never express yourself more clearly than you think. - Niels Bohr
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calder
member
Reged: 12/13/05
Posts: 69
Loc: Schuylkill County, PA
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It seems that humans are better at recognizing patterns better than computer programs but it also seems that humans also introduce their own bias as to the direction of rotation of galaxies. This is according to an article which appeared in Universe Today. Here is the link to the article Link Universe Today
I have been considering joining in the classification process. Cool!
Clear skies,
Robert
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Meade 295 (dust collector)
B&L Criterion 4000 (grab & go)
Celestron 9.25 CGE (work in progress)
Stellarview 102ED FT focuser (sweet)
Stellarview 70ED (pre-ordered)
Canon F1
Mamiya 645
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maureenford
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 04/27/05
Posts: 754
Loc: New Paltz, NY
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Yes, they did address that in the article. They showed people mirror reversed images of the same galaxy and still people saw more countercloclwise galaxies.
I signed up for it. There's a great tutorial and I thought it would hone my observing skills while I make a small contribution to science.
Maureen
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Discovery 12.5" TD on Scopebuggy
with Argo Navis and Feathertouch focuser
27mmPan, 13mm & 8mmEthos, 6mm Radian
Howie Glatter laser and Blug
Coronado PST
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The bear
professor emeritus
Reged: 02/11/08
Posts: 699
Loc: rushville, indiana
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thank you i love this good practice for the newbie i think
doc
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Longitude -85.42786 Latitude 39.59153
when all else fails use duct tape "works for me"
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Matthew Ota
super member
Reged: 04/30/05
Posts: 182
Loc: New Hampshire
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Good project for amateur astronomers to take part in if they have the time to devote to it.
Unfortunetley, I don't
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Matthew Ota
10 inch Meade LX250GPS SCT (LX50/LX200GPS clone) f6.3-Orion 80ED, ETX-90 OTA, Coronado Helios 1 H-alpha Solar Telescope
Cassini Huygens Saturn Observation Campaign
New Hampshire Astronomical Society
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Octavarium
member
Reged: 08/02/08
Posts: 62
Loc: East Haven, CT
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Awesome link! I just signed up and passed the tutorial test, I did about 40 already. No mergers yet, mostly distant ellipticals with some nice sprials and edge on sprials
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Meade ETX-125PE
Series 4000 plossol eyepiece/filter set
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Octavarium
member
Reged: 08/02/08
Posts: 62
Loc: East Haven, CT
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Actually what do you guys think of this one? I put just elliptical, it appears the other 3 are close though. Possibly on collision course or going the other way?
http://cas.sdss.org/astro/en/tools/explore/obj.asp?id=587728932417175746
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Meade ETX-125PE
Series 4000 plossol eyepiece/filter set
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