Latest news with #SloanDigitalSkySurvey
Time of India
01-05-2025
- Science
- Time of India
NASA wants people to help identify 500,000 galaxy images — Here's how one can join
NASA has launched a new project that lets everyday people team up with scientists to explore space. The goal is simple: help sort through 500,000 galaxy images taken by the powerful James Webb Space Telescope . Tired of too many ads? go ad free now These images show galaxies from billions of years ago and could help scientists learn how galaxies form and change over time. And you don't need to be a space expert to take part– anyone can join in. By helping, you'll be part of real scientific research that was once only done by astronomers. Through the Galaxy Zoo citizen science project, NASA is inviting people to take part in this massive space study. The idea is simple: volunteers look at images of galaxies taken by the James Webb Telescope and answer a few basic questions, like whether a galaxy looks round or has spiral arms. These small tasks help scientists sort and understand different galaxy shapes, which is key to learning how galaxies form and change over time. Christine Macmillan, a volunteer from Aberdeen, Scotland, spoke to NASA about the thrill of participating, 'This is a great opportunity to see images from the newest space telescope. Galaxies at the edge of our universe are being seen for the first time, just as they are starting to form. Just sign up and answer simple questions about the shape of the galaxy that you are seeing. Anyone can do it, ages 10 and up.' What makes this project even more exciting is that the galaxies you help classify could be some of the farthest ever seen. Their light has traveled for billions of years to reach us, giving a glimpse into what the universe looked like long ago. Classifying galaxies might seem like a simple task, but the science behind it is anything but. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now By looking at the shapes and features of these galaxies, scientists can learn how galaxies are formed, how they interact, and how they change over time. Thanks to the James Webb Telescope's powerful ability to capture light from some of the most distant galaxies, researchers can actually look back in time and study the early universe– something older telescopes couldn't do. This research helps scientists understand the full life cycle of galaxies, from how they formed stars to how they grew and changed. With Webb's data, we now have a chance to explore the universe's earliest chapters like never before. The Galaxy Zoo project has been a great example of citizen science since it began in 2007. It started with just a few galaxy images from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, but has now grown into a global effort involving millions of volunteers. With data from major space telescopes like Hubble and the European Space Agency's Euclid, Galaxy Zoo has already helped scientists learn a lot about the universe. Now, with the release of new images from the James Webb Space Telescope, the project is entering a whole new phase. These images offer an incredibly detailed view of galaxies, allowing volunteers to classify them in ways that weren't possible before. As NASA explained, 'With Webb, we can spot galaxies at greater distances than ever before. We're seeing what some of the earliest galaxies ever detected look like– for the first time.'
Time of India
01-05-2025
- Science
- Time of India
NASA wants you to help classify galaxies captured by James Webb Telescope: What is Galaxy Zoo, and how to join
Galaxy Zoo NASA is inviting people of all ages to participate in an exciting citizen science project through Galaxy Zoo , where volunteers help classify thousands of galaxy images captured by the James Webb Space Telescope . With over 500,000 galaxy images now available, scientists need assistance to analyse and understand how galaxies have evolved over billions of years. This project allows volunteers to be among the first to view some of the earliest galaxies ever detected. By answering simple questions about galaxy shapes, participants can directly contribute to scientific discoveries about the universe's history. What is Galaxy Zoo Galaxy Zoo is a long-running citizen science project that started in 2007. It has allowed volunteers to classify galaxies using images from telescopes like the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. The project has led to numerous scientific breakthroughs, such as insights into galaxy mergers and the role of black holes. Why your help matters in identifying galaxies by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Jawa Tengah: AI guru Andrew Ng recommends: Read These 5 Books And Turn Your Life Aroun... Blinkist: Andrew Ng's Reading List Undo The James Webb Space Telescope has produced a vast number of new images that reveal galaxies farther away than ever before. These distant galaxies show us what the universe looked like billions of years ago. By studying their shapes, scientists can understand how galaxies formed, how they created stars, and how they interacted with each other over time. How to participate in Galaxy Zoo To join, volunteers simply sign up on the Galaxy Zoo website. After viewing an image from the Webb telescope, answer questions about its shape, such as whether it appears smooth or has spiral arms. Even beginners can contribute valuable data. Some volunteers have expressed excitement about being the first people ever to see these distant galaxies. Combining human and AI efforts The Galaxy Zoo team now uses an artificial intelligence system called ZooBot. This AI reviews images and classifies the ones it can handle based on existing data. When ZooBot encounters complex or unclear images, it passes them on to human volunteers. This partnership between humans and AI allows the project to manage the massive influx of new data effectively. A continuing legacy of discovery Galaxy Zoo has already played a key role in expanding our understanding of the universe. With the addition of James Webb's powerful new data, the project is opening a new chapter in space exploration. Anyone interested in space and science can join and make a real impact on astronomical research.
India Today
30-04-2025
- Science
- India Today
Nasa releases 5,00,000 images of galaxies, needs your help to identify them
Nasa has released images of 5,00,000 galaxies taken by the James Webb Space Telescope and it needs the help of citizen scientists in identifying the shapes of these classification could help scientists answer questions about how the shapes of galaxies have changed over time, what caused these changes, and images have been released on the website of the Galaxy Zoo citizen science project, where the visitors will first examine an image from the Webb telescope, and then will be asked several questions, such as 'Is the galaxy round?', or 'Are there signs of spiral arms?'.advertisement Nasa has said that if you're quick, you may even be the first person to see the galaxies you're asked to classify."This is a great opportunity to see images from the newest space telescope. 'Galaxies at the edge of our universe are being seen for the first time, just as they are starting to form. Just sign up and answer simple questions about the shape of the galaxy that you are seeing. Anyone can do it, ages 10 and up," volunteer Christine Macmillan from Aberdeen, Scotland told Zoo volunteers have been exploring deep space since July 2007, starting with a million galaxies from a telescope in New Mexico called the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and then, moving on to images from space telescopes like NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and ESA (European Space Agency)'s Euclid said that the pictures of the galaxies show how they were billions of years ago because light takes time to travel to us. "With Webb, we can spot galaxies at greater distances than ever before. We're seeing what some of the earliest galaxies ever detected look like, for the first time," Nasa shapes of these galaxies could reveal how they were born, how and when they formed stars, and how they interacted with their neighbours.
Yahoo
05-02-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Scientists discover black holes spinning unexpectedly fast: 'You're essentially looking at its fossil record'
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Scientists have discovered that some supermassive black holes rotate much more rapidly than expected. The discovery came as the result of a new form of "black hole archeology" that links black hole spins to the gas and dust they have consumed to grow over 7 billion years of cosmic history. The findings, courtesy of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) suggest a few things. For one, the early universe may have been more orderly than previously suspected. And secondly, the growth of supermassive black holes through the merger chain of progressively larger and larger black holes (triggered as galaxies collide and merge) may be supplemented by the objects voraciously feasting on surrounding gas and dust. "We have studied the giant black holes found at the centers of galaxies, from today to as far back as seven billion years ago," team member Logan Fries, from the University of Connecticut, said in a statement. "Unexpectedly, we found that they were spinning too fast to have been formed by galaxy mergers alone. "They must have formed in large part from material falling in, growing the black hole smoothly and speeding up its rotation." Despite being cosmic monsters that shape the entire galaxies around them, supermassive black holes with masses millions or billions of times that of the sun (and their more diminutive stellar-mass counterparts) are overall quite can be individually defined by just three characteristics: mass, spin, and, less importantly, electric charge. As physicist John Wheeler wittily explained this lack of distinguishing features: "black holes have no hair." "Black holes seem so exotic, but you can describe them completely with just two numbers: mass and spin rate," Fries explained. "The problem is that mass is hard to measure, and spin is even harder." The speed at which a black hole spins is difficult to distinguish from the speed at which the surrounding flattened cloud of gas and dust — the accretion disk — rotates. "The challenge lies in separating the spin of the black hole from the spin of the accretion disk surrounding it," Jonathan Trump, team member and a University of Connecticut researcher, said in the statement. "The key is to look at the innermost region, where gas is falling into the black hole's event horizon. "A spinning black hole drags that innermost material along for the ride, which leads to an observable difference when we look at the details in our measurements." The team tackled the challenging task of determining the spin of black holes using the SDSS's Reverberation Mapping project. This project has been making extremely precise mass measurements for hundreds of black holes while also conducting detailed observations of the structures of the voids' accretion disks. This data comes in the form of spectra, or light emitted across the electromagnetic spectrum. With this in hand, scientists can begin to measure the rate at which a central black hole spins. A subtle shift in the wavelength of light reveals a great deal about the rotation of the black hole. When material falls into the black hole, it also brings with it angular momentum — that rotation reveals details of a black hole's past diet. 'I call this approach 'black hole archaeology' because we're trying to understand how the mass of a black hole has grown over time,' Fries said. "By looking at the spin of the black hole, you're essentially looking at its fossil record." This "fossil record" can be decoded when scientists compare the observed rate of spin to what is predicted. Currently, the favored model suggests supermassive black holes grow by mergers triggered when their home galaxies collide and merge. Because these individual galaxies have their own rates of rotation and random orientation, when they merge, these rotations could cancel out. Or, at least, they could combine together. Both outcomes should be equally as likely. Given this, scientists expect that black holes should spin very slowly. That isn't what this team discovered, however. Not only did this research reveal that many black holes are spinning more rapidly than expected, but it also showed that black holes in more distant galaxies spin even more quickly than those in the local universe. This suggests the spin of black holes could build gradually over time. One way that could happen is through the black hole's accumulation of angular momentum by its gradual accretion of dust and gas. Related Stories: — NASA X-ray telescope Chandra discovers black holes 'blow' on their food to cool it down — Supermassive black holes in 'little red dot' galaxies are 1,000 times larger than they should be, and astronomers don't know why — Black holes can squash star formation, James Webb Space Telescope finds Researchers could further test this idea and verify these results using observations from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), which, in its three years of operation, has been finding supermassive black holes from earlier and earlier epochs of the universe. "Black holes really do sit at the frontier of human understanding," Juna Kollmeier, the Director of SDSS-V, the current phase of the SDSS, said in the statement. "We undertake massive surveys like SDSS to build an empirical astrophysical picture of their fundamental properties against which our theoretical models can be put to the test." Fries presented the team's findings on Jan. 14 at the 245th meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) in National Harbor, Maryland.
