A citizen science project that needs volunteers to classify images of almost a quarter of a million galaxies taken by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey 2.5-m wide-angle optical telescope.

Your job is very simple! All you need to do is look out for the features that mark out spiral and elliptical galaxies. There’s a tutorial showing how to classify galaxies according to shape (elliptical, spiral or irregular) and rotation (clockwise or anti-clockwise).

Those involved are directly contributing to scientific research, while getting an opportunity to view the beautiful and varied galaxies that inhabit our universe. Why does Galaxy Zoo need people to do this, rather than just using a computer? The simple answer is that the human brain is much better at recognizing patterns than a computer. Galaxies are complicated objects that vary in appearance enormously, and yet in some ways they can be very similar.

More than 150,000 people have taken part in Galaxy Zoo so far, producing a wealth of valuable data and sending telescopes on Earth and in space chasing after their discoveries. Zoo 2 focuses on the nearest, brightest and most beautiful galaxies, so to begin exploring the Universe, click the ‘How To Take Part’ link, or read ‘The Story So Far’ to find out what Galaxy Zoo has achieved to date.

Getting all these galaxy classifications is just the first stage of the project. What Galaxy Zoo really wants to do is some science, to try and understand what kind of galaxies there are, how they formed, and the processes that have changed them into the systems we see today. The journey from raw classifications to accepted scientific results is often long and arduous.

Project owners + coordinators:
Galaxy Zoo Team, team@galaxyzoo.org

To learn more and participate, visit: http://galaxyzoo.org

To stay up-to-date on this project:
• follow @galaxyzoo
• read galaxyzooblog.org
• join galaxyzooforum.org