Have you ever wanted to help scientists explore the universe? Good news—you can! This blog post is the first in a fun new series from the Denver Astronomical Society (DAS) all about NASA’s Citizen Science projects. These are real science projects that anyone can join, no matter their age or experience. All you need is curiosity and a little time. In each post, we’ll show you how you can help NASA make discoveries, starting with one of our favorite projects: Galaxy Zoo!
What is Galaxy Zoo?
Galaxy Zoo is a super cool project where you help scientists sort and study galaxies. Galaxies come in all shapes and sizes, and figuring out what they look like helps astronomers understand how they form and change. But there are way too many galaxies for a small group of scientists to look at on their own. That’s where you come in!
When you join Galaxy Zoo, you look at pictures of galaxies and answer simple questions like, “Is this galaxy round or spiral?” Your answers help scientists sort the galaxies into groups so they can study them better. It’s like doing a cosmic scavenger hunt right from your laptop.
Who Started Galaxy Zoo?
Galaxy Zoo started back in 2007 with a team of scientists from Oxford University. They had a big problem: they had way too many galaxy images from a telescope survey and not enough time to look at them all. So they asked the public for help—and it worked! People from all over the world joined in, and the project took off.
Over the years, Galaxy Zoo has teamed up with NASA, the Zooniverse platform, and other research groups. Thanks to thousands of volunteers, Galaxy Zoo has helped scientists publish over 50 scientific papers. It shows how powerful people can be when they work together—even on something as big as the universe!
What’s New? Galaxy Zoo and the James Webb Space Telescope
Now Galaxy Zoo has something new and exciting: data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). This telescope is a giant observatory floating in space at a place called the L2 point, about a million miles from Earth.
The L2 point—short for the second Lagrange point—is a special spot in space where the gravity from the Earth and the Sun balance out just right. That means JWST can stay in a stable orbit around the Sun while keeping its position lined up with Earth. It doesn’t need to use a lot of fuel to stay put—just a few small nudges now and then. Plus, being at L2 lets JWST keep its instruments cool and its giant sunshield pointed away from the Sun, which helps it take super-clear pictures in infrared light.
JWST has a shiny gold mirror and can see in infrared light, which helps it look at galaxies that are super far away—and super old! With JWST’s amazing new images, Galaxy Zoo volunteers are getting the chance to study galaxies from the early universe. Some of them are so weird and wonderful that scientists don’t know exactly what they are. Your help can make a big difference in figuring them out.
How Galaxy Zoo Works
Getting started with Galaxy Zoo is easy. Just go to the Zooniverse website, find the Galaxy Zoo project, and create a free account. Then you’ll see images of galaxies and answer questions about what you see. You don’t need any experience—there are helpful examples to guide you.
Your answers are added to other people’s answers, and when enough people agree, scientists know they can trust the result. Then the data is used in real research studies. It’s a team effort, and you’re an important part of it!
How You Can Join In
If you’re a member of the Denver Astronomical Society, this is a great way to do science without needing a telescope. Whether you’re a seasoned stargazer or just getting started, Galaxy Zoo is for you. And the best part? You don’t need to be a DAS member to join the project—Galaxy Zoo is open to everyone!
Here’s how to join:
- Go to www.zooniverse.org
- Click on the Galaxy Zoo project
- Sign up for a free account
- Start classifying galaxies!
We also recommend talking about your findings at our DAS meetings or in Slack. It’s a fun way to share what you’re learning and get others excited about joining in too.
Keep Looking Up
Galaxy Zoo is proof that you don’t need to be a rocket scientist to help with space research. From the comfort of your own home, you can be part of a project that helps NASA and scientists all over the world. That’s pretty amazing!
Stay tuned for our next blog post in this Citizen Science series. We’ll be looking at another exciting way you can join NASA’s mission to explore space. Until then, keep looking up—and clicking galaxies!
