[Astronomy subject] The Galaxy Zoo - Essay Example

John Q. A Astronomy 13 Aug The Galaxyzoo My experience of online ial the “GalaxyZoo” was incredible. The website offers lots of information, pictures of the galaxies and queries along with the training program. It has easy registration process, which took just 2 minutes. You need to get registered as a galaxy classifier to take part in the process of training and research, for which, you fill in the login details that include the login ID, name, email and password fields. The members of the website get access to a range of images and information, which are very unique and educational. The website has marvellous pictures of different type of galaxies, and it provides information and questionnaire related to the behaviour of galaxies, their shape and color in the space.
The GalaxyZoo website provides many interesting facts about the galaxies and the Universe. The database of the website provides an insight into galaxies and its evolution. The database stores about 250,000 samples of galaxies and the members are given a set of questions which are based on pictures of these galaxies. The visitors can take part in the questionnaire, which is based on the images of the galaxies. The visitors to the website have to look at the image and answer the questions based on his/her interpretation of the image. Some of the questions which are being studied are
Is the galaxy simply smooth and rounded, with no sign of a disk?
Does the galaxy have a predominantly clumpy appearance?
How many clumps are there?
Is there one clump which is clearly brighter than the others?
Is the brightest clump central to the galaxy?
Does the galaxy appear symmetrical?
Do the clumps appear to be embedded within a larger object?
Is the odd feature a ring, or is the galaxy disturbed or irregular?
The various researches showed the nature of galaxies such as the information related to the shapes, colours. It was assumed the color of galaxy was red and its shape was elliptical. However, it has been interpreted from the images of GalaxyZoo that one-third of galaxies are red spirals and a larger number of elliptical galaxies are blue -- which are in the process of forming new stars.
Earlier it was assumed that galaxies spin in opposite directions but research on pictures found that the two galaxies which are nearby, spin in the same direction, instead of opposite directions. This can be used to interpret the spinning behavior of galaxies. The research on galaxy disks showed the galaxies have larger contraction (bulges) which are central to redder disk galaxies. The research on disk galaxies with smaller central concentration is also significant in this context.
In the process of explaining the behavior of galaxies, GalaxyZoo found numerous new things in space which were called Galaxy Zoo peas. Certain blue objects were noticed in some images, which were named Voorwerp by the members of GalaxyZoo.
GalaxyZoo is the website which was launched in July 2007. It was based on the data set generated from millions of galaxies using a robotic telescope - the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. There are numerous projects which are handled by GalaxyZoo and several professional telescopes are used to track the images of galaxies.
Works Cited
Galaxy Zoo. Web. 14 Aug, 2012. Read More