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Galaxy Zoo

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By Gruntfutuck (Contact - View My Woyano)
Published Thu 12 Jul 2007, 1758 Views, 24 Comments 

I'm finding this rather addictive atm

http://www.galaxyzoo.org/Default.aspx

Found it via this:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6289474.stm

A new project known as Galaxy Zoo is calling on members of the public to log on to its
website and help classify one million galaxies.

The hope is that about 30,000 people might take part in a project that could help reveal
whether our existing models of the Universe are correct.

Computers users undergo a three-minute online tutorial and are then allocated a series
of images and asked to decide whether each one shows a spiral or an elliptical galaxy.

If it's a spiral galaxy, they're asked to decide which way it appears to be rotating…

…Dr Chris Lintott, another member of the Oxford team, said:
"One advantage is that you get to see parts of space that have never been seen before. 
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. 
"It's not often you get to see something unique." 

I spent a couple of hours on this last night and it's incredibly addictive. There's a 
lot of nondescript images to go through but it's worth it for the occasional discovery 
of a stunning spiral galaxy.

Have a go!

Warning - may induce feelings of extreme insignificance.


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Category: News, Science
Tags: astronomy, galaxy, zoo
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    24 Comments

  1.  
    earsz ~ 33 months ago
    0 votes thumbs up thumbs down
    Thanks for posting this. I had seen some headlines pertaining to it without going to check them out. I can see from merely the tutorial that this has the potential to tie me up for hours!
    [ reply ]
    1.  
      Gruntfutuck ~ 33 months ago
      0 votes thumbs up thumbs down
      Oh, it will tie you up for hours all right! Just one more galaxy...
      [ reply ]
    2.  
      jbravo ~ 33 months ago
      0 votes thumbs up thumbs down
      This sounds like a cool idea to help the public participate. I can think of a couple of issues, however:

      1. What's to stop people from being malicious and intentionally providing incorrect answers?

      2. This seems like an ideal problem for a neural network program to handle. Why get people involved at all?
      [ reply ]
      1.  
        Gruntfutuck ~ 33 months ago
        0 votes thumbs up thumbs down
        I'm guessing but I would say
        1) The same pictures are probably farmed out to many participants so that they get a summary of a range of interpretations for each image, so the odd malicious user would have less impact on results.
        2) I'm guessing that a pattern recognition program like that would cost money to develop and this is a far more cost-effective solution. Humans are already programmed for pattern recognition after all.
        [ reply ]
        1.  
          jbravo ~ 33 months ago
          0 votes thumbs up thumbs down
          Sounds reasonable. Computers are getting better very quickly, though.
          [ reply ]
      2.  
        Gruntfutuck ~ 33 months ago
        0 votes thumbs up thumbs down
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        1.  
          Michael ~ 32 months ago
          0 votes thumbs up thumbs down
          Looks like a Light Cycle from TRON. :D
          [ reply ]
        2.  
          Gruntfutuck ~ 33 months ago
          0 votes thumbs up thumbs down
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          1.  
            Gruntfutuck ~ 33 months ago
            0 votes thumbs up thumbs down
            [ reply ]
          2.  
            Gruntfutuck ~ 33 months ago
            0 votes thumbs up thumbs down
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            1.  
              earsz ~ 33 months ago
              0 votes thumbs up thumbs down
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              1.  
                Gruntfutuck ~ 33 months ago
                0 votes thumbs up thumbs down
                stunning!
                [ reply ]
                1.  
                  clemmati ~ 33 months ago
                  0 votes thumbs up thumbs down
                  All these are beautiful; thank you, Grunt and Earsz. (I can't do the test., my eyesight's a bit dodgy, some of that is hay fever!,)
                  [ reply ]
              2.  
                earsz ~ 33 months ago
                0 votes thumbs up thumbs down
                Some time ago, a few years now, I began collecting space-related images from the Internet and burning an annual CD for my grandchildren, of which I have two sets now ranging in age from 15 to 1 year. I kept the very best for myself as well in a wallpaper program, so my screen now produces a new image every 15 minutes. Unfortunately, once in that program, the images can't be exported, but I have copies of each of the annual CDs. On occasion I included additional items _ dragons, dinosaurs, spacecraft, art based on space-related concepts, major telescopes, programs that display astro-related material on a computer screen, funny depictions of "aliens" _ and other semi-related stuff I thought might be of fun and/or interest to the kids. Unfortunately, I've never had any comment in return, so I don't know what reaction these CDS get, but I have continued the practice nonetheless _ because, if nothing else, I enjoy it.
                [ reply ]
                1.  
                  jbravo ~ 33 months ago
                  0 votes thumbs up thumbs down
                  OK. I signed up and started classifying galaxies. Very addictive indeed. Why, I wonder?

                  One aspect of quantum theory (as again I learned from Kurzweil), is that quantum decoherence (a quantum superposition collapsing to a specific value) does not occur until a conscious observer examines it (OK, the conscious aspect has been open to some debate). An extrapolation of this, as wild as it sounds, is that even a large object -- say a galaxy -- does not really exist until it is observed by a conscious observer. Thus, by participating in this survey, you may actually be creating galaxies! :-)
                  [ reply ]
                  1.  
                    Gruntfutuck ~ 33 months ago
                    0 votes thumbs up thumbs down
                    Interesting perspective jbravo! Human beings may not be the only conscious observers in the universe though...
                    [ reply ]
                    1.  
                      jbravo ~ 33 months ago
                      0 votes thumbs up thumbs down
                      True. I'm sure we're not. I was just hoping that maybe there were some galaxies out there not yet observed. :-)
                      [ reply ]
                    2.  
                      7thdirection ~ 33 months ago
                      0 votes thumbs up thumbs down
                      Wow congrats on finding those beautiful merging galaxies! This program has already given me a few hours of entertainment but I imagine the project will be almost done within a month!
                      [ reply ]
                      1.  
                        Gruntfutuck ~ 32 months ago
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                        1.  
                          Gruntfutuck ~ 32 months ago
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                          1.  
                            Loves Bloc Party ~ 32 months ago
                            0 votes thumbs up thumbs down
                            those are beautiful *S*
                            [ reply ]
                            1.  
                              Gruntfutuck ~ 32 months ago
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                              1.  
                                Gruntfutuck ~ 32 months ago
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                                1.  
                                  Gruntfutuck ~ 32 months ago
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                                  great news, they've got a forum up and running for people to post their interesting finds

                                  worth a surf...
                                  http://www.galaxyzooforum.org/index.php

                                  for stuff like this (zoom out a bit)
                                  http://cas.sdss.org/astro...=202.468208&dec=47.194667
                                  [ reply ]
                                  1.  
                                    AdGuy
                                    22 votes thumbs up thumbs down
                                    This is my two cents...

                                       
                                    Hey you know AdGuy always gets the last word! ;)

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