London – Scientists want Internet users to help them sort through an unusual digital photo album: pictures of about 1 million galaxies.
In a Web statement Wednesday, astronomers asked for volunteers to help classify the galaxies, identifying them as either elliptical or spiral, and noting, where possible, in which direction they rotate. It would be the largest galactic census ever compiled, something scientists say would provide new insight into the structure of the universe.
“We’re in the golden era of astronomy,” said Bob Nichol, an astronomer at the University of Portsmouth, in southern England, who helped develop the “Galaxy Zoo” website – – where the photographs are posted. “We have more data than we can assimilate, and we need help.”
Astronomers say computer programs have been unable to reliably classify the star systems. Without volunteers, it would take researchers years to wade through the photographs, which were taken automatically by a massive digital camera mounted onto a telescope at the Apache Point Observatory near Sunspot, N.M., Nichol said.
With between 10,000 and 20,000 people working to classify the galaxies, the process could take as little as a month.
Volunteers would sign on to the website, complete a brief tutorial and pick through one galaxy after another.
The galaxies would be identified by several people to guard against errors, and scientists would rule on galaxies whose shape or spin was disputed by volunteers.
The catalog would help researchers understand how galaxies interact and the way in which they form, Nichol said, explaining that scientists still know very little about galaxies beyond the fact that some are spiral-shaped while others are elliptical.
“It’s a bit like knowing that there are men and women in the world, but not knowing where they come from or how they’re different,” he said.
The project was inspired by similar projects at NASA, such as Stardust@home, which enlisted the help of thousands of volunteers to sift through grains of space dust gathered during a 2006 mission.
