Have you ever wanted to explore the furthest reaches of space? Whether you are an amateur astronomer or just a dedicated Star Trek fan, you too can have the opportunity to make a contribution and bring knowledge of the galaxies back to people on Earth.
This is because scientists are asking volunteers to go online and help them classify galaxies in a sort of galaxy census. The scientist say that this information would help provide new insight into the structure of the Universe.
Volunteers would go online and sift through digital images of the galaxies that were taken by a specially made and very large digital camera that was mounted onto a telescope at the Apache Point Observatory near Sunspot, New Mexico. Without volunteers, the classification project would take scientists years upon years. With online help, the scientists are hoping the project will take less than a month to complete.
To participate in the project, volunteers sign on to a project’s website where they complete a brief tutorial. After the tutorial, volunteers are asked to view the photos of the galaxies and determine whether they are spiral or elliptical, and if possible, note in which direction they seem to rotate.
Several different people would work on the same galaxies to guard against error or intentional misinformation by pranksters. The scientists would have the last wrd on any disputes.
Nasa has sponsored similar projects in the past, such as one to help identify stardust.
This seems like a great project for the whole family. Just think of the educational opportunity for kids. Home-schooling families might want to integrate the project into their lesson plans. And it sounds like a lot of fun, too. I know that my six-year-old is very excited about the project.
To learn more about the project, just visit http://www.galaxyzoo.org.
Mary Ann Romans also writes for the Frugal Living Blog here at Families.com, where she shares money saving tips for today’s families.
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National Geographic Kids Website