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- You help astronomers explore the universe
- To understand how these galaxies and our own formed, they need our help to classify them according to their shapes — a task at which our brain is better than even the most advanced computer
- This is known as “citizen cyberscience”
About the website
- More than 250,000 people have taken part in Galaxy Zoo so far, producing a wealth of valuable data and sending telescopes on Earth and in space chasing after their discoveries
- When classifying you will be shown an image of a galaxy and be asked a series of questions about it. All you need to do is to look for features that mark out different types of galaxy and answer the questions as well as you can
- This is a job that humans are much better at than computers, so most of the questions are fairly easy
- There is a tutorial here: http://www.galaxyzoo.org/how_to_ take_part
What is citizen cyberscience?
- Citizen cyberscience enables ordinary citizens to participate in real scientific research online
- Almost anyone with an Internet connection can join: schoolchildren, office workers, pensioners
- Using PCs, laptops and even mobile phones, volunteers can classify images of distant galaxies or track the migration patterns of endangered species, to name just two examples
- Citizen cyberscience is social networking with a purpose. It turns science education into a highly motivating participative activity http://www.shuttleworthfoundation.org/fellows/francois-grey/
In the classroom
- Follow Galaxy Zoo on Twitter: http://twitter.com/GalaxyZoo
- As a class exercise you could classify galaxies together.
