Galaxy Zoo

Professional astronomers have collected pictures of one million galaxies in our universe. These pictures came from a project called the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Now, the astronomers want to sort the galaxies they have found by shape.

However, there are too many galaxies for professional astronomers to look at and sort on their own. This would take a very long time. So they have asked the public for help. Astronomers want people around the world to help look at the pictures of the galaxies on a Web site and classify them into different kinds. All you need is a computer with connection to the Internet. This project is called Galaxy Zoo.

Astronomers want people instead of computers to help because some of the pictures are very hard to recognize. They say that people are much better at identifying these patterns and shapes. Some of the images of galaxies are unclear and the human eye is the best tool to help decide what shape a galaxy really is.

Scientists say that knowing how many of each kind of galaxy there are will help them understand more about our universe. The information will help answer questions about how galaxies are made and how they change over time. It will also help answer questions about how the universe works and moves.

Project Galaxy Zoo was first announced on July eleventh. In the first sixty hours after the announcement, the Web site had been visited almost seven million times. So far, more than eighty-five thousand people are exploring the universe on the Internet. People have sent more than twelve million galaxy classifications. However, astronomers say that they need even more people to help.

Scientists want between ten and twenty different people to sort each of the one million galaxies. This will take a long time, even with so many people working on it. However, more and more people are signing up to look at these galaxies every day. When the results help scientists answer important questions about the universe thousands of people will be able to say, "I helped." If you would like to join in, you can visit the Web site at www.galaxyzoo.org.

Проект Galaxy Zoo предоставляет возможность всем желающим принять участие в классификации галактик по типам. Для этого нужно зарегистрироваться на сайте проекта Galaxy Zoo, пройти квалификационный тест и в любое удобное время помочь профессиональным астрономам выполнить классификацию.