LONDON (AP) -- Scientists need help
sorting through an unusual digital photo album: pictures of about 1 million
galaxies.
They are
asking volunteers on the Internet to help classify the galaxies as either
elliptical or spiral and note, 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. "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, researchers would need 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 10,000 to
20,000 people working to classify the galaxies, the process could take as
little as a month.
Volunteers
would sign on to the Web site, complete a brief tutorial and pick through one
galaxy after another. The galaxies would be identified by several people to
guard against errors and pranks, and scientists would rule on any disputes.
The catalog
would help researchers understand how galaxies form and interact.
"At some
level, what we learn about these galaxies could tell us something quite
fundamental about cosmology and particle physics,'' Nichol said.
The project
was inspired by similar projects at NASA, such as Stardust(at)home, which
enlisted the help of thousands of volunteers to sift through grains of space
dust gathered during a 2006 mission.
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