Archive by Author | karenlmasters
March 24, 2010  

She's an Astronomer: Elizabeth Siegel

elizabeth photo

Elizabeth Siegel lives in California in the USA. She is 57 years old and has worked as a registered nurse for the last 9 years after going back to college at 42 to do a nursing degree. She has two grown up kids – a son in college and a daughter who works in the aerospace industry.

  • How did you first hear about Galaxy Zoo?

I found out about Galaxy Zoo  through the science news page at Yahoo two years ago as the project was beginning.  It was only on the page for one day, but I remembered the name and was able to find it on my own.

  • What has been your main involvement in the Galaxy Zoo project?

My main involvement has been classifying galaxies.  Specifically: Galaxy Zoo 1 and 2, mergers, barred spirals, AGN-clouds, and Irregular spirals.  I have found a few asteroids and some possible gravitational lensens I did and OOTD on polar rings. I am an active member on the galaxy zoo forum, and have posted pictures in the pure art thread, not to mention one or two galaxies..  I’ve recently started working on the Solar Storm Watch, Supernova Zoo, and the Moon Zoo Beta test.  Between these projects I have contributed around 200,000 classifications and spent almost 4000 hours on Galaxy Zoo.

  • What do you like most about being involved in Galaxy Zoo?

I love looking at the galaxies, learning about them and discussing them with fellow zooites from around the world online or in person through group meets like the one we had in September 2008 at Chabot Observatory in Oakland California (West Coast Meet Ups Forum Thread).

  • What do you think is the most interesting astronomical question Galaxy Zoo will help to solve?

I am not a Astronomer so I really cannot answer that question. I do known as volunteers we are providing  the Astronomers loads of information which would have taken them a long time to research otherwise. Of course there is Hanny’s Voorwerp that the scientist and zooites would like to learn more about. Personally it’s all the galaxies I like. I find Polar Ring galaxies to be the most interesting to me since there are so few of these type galaxies. If Astronomers could learn more about these galaxies that would indeed be cool.

  • How/when did you first get interested in Astronomy?

When I was around 14 years old I had read a lot of books on the moon and meteorites and wanted to be an astronomer.  That year my Christmas present was a telescope. One night, my friends and I decided that we were going to ride our bikes to Lick Observatory.  We snuck out at one in the morning rode twenty miles East of San Jose California.  We made it by mid-morning but of course everything was closed.  There was an old man and he asked us what we were doing.  We told him we had come to see the observatory.  He smiled and said the best time to see the observatory was at night.  He gave us some water to drink, and we smiled and  thanked him for the water and information.  But 20 miles up hill on bikes is a long way to go to be told to come back at night. The old man did not even show us around.  When I found out that most of Astronomy had to do with math I lost interest in being a Astronomer  as a profession since math was never my strong subject. Over the years I kept up on Astronomy though reading science articles watching programs like Nova etc. Then I found Galaxy zoo I can look at all the galaxies, stars, nebulae,  clusters which is my favorite part of Astronomy

  • What (if any) do you think are the main barriers to women’s involvement in Astronomy?

I have no idea.

  • Do you have any particular role models in Astronomy?

I do not have any particular role models in Astronomy but I do admire the way the Galaxy zoo team has taken the original Galaxy zoo project and is now expanding it to the Zooniverse. I would like to invite everyone to come and participate in these wonderful zoo projects.

This post is part of the ongoing She’s an Astronomer series on the Galaxy Zoo Blog is support of the IYA2009 cornerstone project of the same name (She’s an Astronomer). We are listed on the She’s an Astronomer website in their Profiles.

We’re almost done – this is the penultimate entry, and last Zooite we will be interviewing. Just one more researcher to go.

March 1, 2010  

She's an Astronomer: Manda Banerji

manda_croppedDr. Manda Banerji is a postdoctoral researcher within the Institute of Astronomy at the University of Cambridge where she works on distant galaxies in the Universe. Originally from India, Manda moved to the UK almost 10 years ago to complete her A-levels and never dreamed at that point that she would fall in love with the UK so much that she’d still be here today! She completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Cambridge in 2005 and her PhD at University College London in 2009. In between Manda also spent a year working as a research scientist at the National Physical Laboratory.

When not doing research, Manda loves traveling the world and enjoys good food, good wine and the company of good friends. If she ever finds more hours in the day (or less of a need to sleep), she hopes to take up dancing again and start working on her first novel!

  • How did you first hear about Galaxy Zoo?

I saw the Galaxy Zoo papers on astro-ph of course when they were first coming out. However, I only decided to get involved later when my PhD supervisor, Prof. Ofer Lahav mentioned it to me while I was at UCL. We were working together on using machine learning algorithms such as artificial neural networks to estimate the redshifts of galaxies from their colours. Ofer mentioned that he had used the same neural network tool to classify galaxies with collaborators in the early nineties. He also knew Chris Lintott from having been his PhD co-supervisor at UCL so we decided to start working together on applying machine learning to the Galaxy Zoo data.

  • What has been your main involvement in the Galaxy Zoo project?

I led the machine learning paper which showed that the Galaxy Zoo classifications can be used as a “training set” in order to supervise the learning of automated morphological classifiers such as artificial neural networks. Once these networks have been “trained” using the human classifications, they can be used to automatically classify much larger data sets.

  • What do you like most about being involved in Galaxy Zoo?

The best thing about being involved in Galaxy Zoo is the mass appeal of any work carried out on the project. I have always believed in the importance of communicating science not just to fellow researchers but also general members of the public so that they hopefully find it interesting and feel inspired to pursue some aspect of it themselves. The Galaxy Zoo project provides a wonderful forum through which to communicate interesting science to many many members of the public while at the same time getting them involved to contribute to the projects themselves.

  • What do you think is the most interesting astronomical question Galaxy Zoo will help to solve?

I think one very unique aspect of Galaxy Zoo is the sheer size of the data set that has now been classified by eye. This means we can actually make a lot of statistically significant statements about the nature of our Universe. For example, what fraction of elliptical galaxies don’t live in overdense regions of the Universe? What fraction of them are blue? In addition, the discovery of unusual classes of objects such as the Green Peas will pose as yet undefined questions. This to me is the most fun part of doing science. You often don’t know what the best questions are to ask before you’ve stumbled upon an answer!

  • How/when did you first get interested in Astronomy?

I first became interested in astronomy when I was about ten years old. I still remember the day actually. We were visiting the Kennedy Space Center in Orlando on a family holiday in Florida. I was so inspired and fascinated by everything I saw and just contemplating the vastness of space and the many things we didn’t know about it, I couldn’t imagine not wanting to find out more. Ever since that day I have wanted to be an astrophysicist. I should also mention that were it not for my brilliant physics teacher at sixth form college, I probably would never had the confidence to pursue an academic career. He would spend most of his lessons making us read New Scientist and watching Horizon and I think this is when I developed an appetite for scientific research and began to appreciate the creativity and independence it affords.

  • What (if any) do you think are the main barriers to women’s involvement in Astronomy?

I think there probably were many barriers to women in astronomy ten maybe twenty years ago. However, I do feel that today this is much less of an issue. For example, I don’t think astronomy is any longer a male dominated subject and the situation here is much better than in other areas of physics. That is not to say that there aren’t many barriers to pursuing an academic career. For example the need to move around frequently for postdoc positions often means people have to make very tough choices. However, in my experience there are many men who worry about this too and many women who don’t so I don’t think this is a barrier that is specific to women by any means!

Having said that, one problem that I do think faces women in astronomy today is the lack of female role models. There are very few female astronomers in very senior academic positions and even fewer who have chosen to have a family. This does sometimes make me doubt if I can pull off both having a successful academic career as well as a family because there are so few examples of women who have actually achieved this! I hope this will change though in years to come.

  • Do you have any particular role models in Astronomy?

I think there are so many people in astronomy (both men and women) who are inspiring in different ways that it’s very hard to single out just a few of them. I’ve learned different things from all the different people that I have interacted with so far in my research career and they’ve all been valuable lessons to learn!

This post is part of the ongoing She’s an Astronomer series on the Galaxy Zoo Blog is support of the IYA2009 cornerstone project of the same name (She’s an Astronomer). We are listed on the She’s an Astronomer website in their Profiles.

We’re almost done – just one more Zooite and one more researcher to come in the series!

February 15, 2010  

She's an Astronomer: Hannah Hutchins

hannah

Hannah Hutchins lives in England with her Grandmother and her hamster, “Hubble”. At just 15, she’s by far the youngest entrant in our “She’s an Astronomer” series, providing us with some perspective from the next generation of astronomers. Hannah is homeschooled and currently studying for her IGCSEs. As well as being a frequent contributor to the forum, she is the co-creator of the Galaxy Zoo APOD. As well as Galaxy Zoo she’s involved in all sorts of astronomy projects, including the Young Astronomers blog.

  • How did you first hear about Galaxy Zoo?

On the BBC News Website in August 2008. I read an article about Hanny’s Voorwerp and when they mentioned Galaxy Zoo I was immediately interested! I went onto the website and was hooked from then onwards.

  • What has been your main involvement in the Galaxy Zoo project?

I classify galaxies, chat on the forum and I write Object of The Days (OOTD). Alice got me into writing the OOTD’s, which is when I discovered that I loved to write.

  • What do you like most about being involved in Galaxy Zoo?

Knowing that I’m helping science. It’s fantastic because I don’t have to be an adult in university doing astrophysics or something to be able to contribute to science like this. It has also turned my interest in astronomy into a passion and I could never live without it. I’m now determined to go to university to study astrophysics. It’s also great to be part of such a friendly community! I finally found friends at the zoo who shared my interests.

  • What do you think is the most interesting astronomical question Galaxy Zoo will help to solve?

There are so many to choose from! I have a soft spot for the Voorwerpjes though, It’s amazing how AGN (active galactic nuclei) belt out all that radiation which then ionize huge gas clouds, it creates some spectacular images.

  • How/when did you first get interested in Astronomy?

My earliest memory of having an interest in astronomy was sitting on my bed when I was around four years old flicking through an astronomy book called ‘Spacewatching: The ultimate guide to the stars and beyond’, I remember staring in wonder at pictures of nebulae and reading aloud the titles in the book. My grandparents bought it for me at a sale along with a book about Comets after I pestered them for them. I think those where my very first astronomy books.

  • What (if any) do you think are the main barriers to women’s involvement in Astronomy?

I’m not really sure, but I know from my experience of school (though rather a short experience, I only lasted a couple of terms in secondary school for instance because I wasn’t happy with the education I was getting) that there is sometimes an attitude where it is bad to have an interest in science and maths, they have to be viewed as so very boring. I think that is because it’s taught so badly at school, it shuts down any interest.

  • Do you have any particular role models in Astronomy?

There are so many fantastic people in astronomy, but I don’t really have a role model.

This post is part of the ongoing She’s an Astronomer series on the Galaxy Zoo Blog is support of the IYA2009 cornerstone project of the same name (She’s an Astronomer). We are listed on the She’s an Astronomer website in their Profiles.

Still to come in the series – a few more Galaxy Zoo volunteers and researchers. We’re not quite done yet!

February 9, 2010  

First Results from Galaxy Zoo 2: Bars in Disk Galaxies

I’m happy to announce that the first paper using Galaxy Zoo 2 data was submitted (to MNRAS) yesterday.

title

In this work we used an early look at the information you have provided us on the presence of bars in a sample of GZ2 galaxies too look at trends of the bar fraction (basically how likely a certain type of disk galaxy is to have a bar) as a function of other properties.

Examples of Barred and Unbarred Galaxies from GZ2

Examples of barred (top) and unbarred (bottom) galaxies from Galaxy Zoo 2.

In doing this research I’ve learned that bars are really interesting features in disk galaxies. Unlike spiral arms, which are density waves (meaning stars pass in and out of them over the life of the galaxy), the matter in bars (stars and gas etc) actually rotates with the bar. This means that the bar breaks the symmetry of the disk of the galaxy and causes transfer of material both in an outwards along its length. What it boils down to is that bars should have a significant impact on the internal evolution of a galaxy. They have been suggested as a way to build some types of bulges, as a way to fuel star formation in the central regions, and perhaps even fuel AGNs. At the outer ends, the bar can induce ring like structures (see the top middle example) – and might even be responsible for driving spiral structure.

So what did we find? Well we observed a strong correlation between the bar fraction and the colour of the disk galaxy. Redder disk galaxies are much more likely to have bars identified by GZ2 users than bluer disk galaxies.

barfraction_colour

Bar fraction as a function of galaxy colour. The dashed line shows the overall bar fraction for the whole sample.

We also tried to split the sample by the size of the bulge. We find that disks with large bulges (shown by the red line below) have high bar fractions, and that disks with small bulges (shown by the blue line) have low bar fractions. This split by bulge size also splits the disks into things which are mostly red (large bulge) and blue (small bulge) – as illustrated by the histograms of the colour distribution of the two types of disk galaxies. What’s new here is that we show this also correlates strongly with the presence of a bar.

barfraction_colour_bulge

Top: bar fraction as a function of galaxy colour split into disk galaxies with large bulges (red) and small bulges (blue). The dashed line shows the overall bar fraction for each sub-sample. Bottom: histograms showing the colour distribution of the disk galaxies with large bulges (red) and small bulges (blue).

So we seem to split disk galaxies into two populations – ones that are red, have large bulges and are very likely to have bars, and ones that are blue, have small bulges, and are not so likely to have bars.

This gives an overall picture in which bars may be very important to the evolution of disk galaxies – perhaps more so than has been thought before. It’s very interesting, and I look forward to spending more time with barred galaxies and with the rich data set that you have given us with Galaxy Zoo 2.

We’re already working on more results from the bars using Galaxy Zoo 2, so expect updates soon. Also I just saw some very interesting results on bar lengths using data from the (now completed) Bar Drawing project. Hopefully we’ll have a paper from that soon too. Stay tuned!

February 1, 2010  

She's an Astronomer: Anna Manning

anna manning

Anna Manning is a Masters student in Astronomy at the University of Alabama (she’s working under the supervision of Dr. Bill Keel on the overlapping galaxies project). She moved to Tuscaloosa, AL (where she lives with 2 sorority sisters) after completing her undergraduate degree at Clemson University in South Carolina. In her free time she enjoys painting, photography, and scrapbooking. At 25 she’s the youngest of our professional (or future professional) astronomers to be interviewed. In the future she would like to either continue her work in astronomical research or perhaps move into space exploration. She also really enjoys the public outreach part of Galaxy Zoo and thinks it would be nice to contribute to that in her future career.

  • How did you first hear about Galaxy Zoo?

I first heard of it when I started my research in Grad School with Dr. Keel at the University of Alabama.

  • What has been your main involvement in the Galaxy Zoo project?

I’ve mostly worked with Dr. Keel to create a catalog of overlapping galaxy pairs. We’ve been to Kitt Peak to observe some of the objects which Dr. Keel has blogged about.

  • What do you like most about being involved in Galaxy Zoo?
I like being a part of public interest in astronomy. I am still amazed by the amount of people genuinely interested not only in astronomy, but in helping with research.

  • What do you think is the most interesting astronomical question Galaxy Zoo will help to solve?
I can’t even begin to imagine what the zoo can do. I think the zoo will be behind many discoveries.

  • How/when did you first get interested in Astronomy?

On field trip in middle school we spent a day at space camp in Florida which began my general interest. In high school I really enjoyed Physics class and decided to major in it in college where I started doing actual research in astronomy.

  • What (if any) do you think are the main barriers to women’s involvement in Astronomy?

This topic actually sparked an interesting conversation in my office. A female office mate and I were discussing how we don’t think there have been any obstacles for us. A male office mate brought up that he believes it is easier to be a woman than a man in astronomy. So I think this is something that changes based on the person and I’m thankful that I have been fortunate in the universities I’ve attended.

  • Do you have any particular role models in Astronomy?

I have learned so much from so many people – and often people that I didn’t know had any interest in astronomy at all!

This post is part of the ongoing She’s an Astronomer series on the Galaxy Zoo Blog is support of the IYA2009 cornerstone project of the same name (She’s an Astronomer). We are listed on the She’s an Astronomer website in their Profiles.

Still to come in the series – a few more Galaxy Zoo volunteers and researchers. We’re not quite done yet!

January 15, 2010  

"Sie ist eine Astronomin": Vardha Nicola Bennert

Our final entry (for now) in the series of foreign language translations of She’s an Astronomer posts – here it is: Vardha’s Interview auf Deutsch!

nicola_ucsb_large

Vardha Nicola Bennert am Meer in Santa Barbara (5 Minuten Fussweg von ihrem Büro), Mai 2009

Vardha’s Interview in English

Dr. Vardha Nicola Bennert ist als Wissenschaftlerin (“postdoc”) an der Fakultät für Physik und Astronomie an der Universität von Kalifornien (UC) in Santa Barbara tätig. Ursprünglich kommt sie aus dem Ruhrgebiet in Deutschland und hat 2005 auf dem Gebiet der Astrophysik von aktiven Galaxien an der Ruhr-Universität Bochum promoviert. Sie hat danach ihre erste Postdoc-Stelle an der Universität von Kalifornien in Riverside in den USA angenommen, bevor sie 2008 nach Santa Barbara gegangen ist.

Das wissenschaftliche Hauptinteresse von Frau Dr. Bennert ist die zentrale Region von “aktiven Galaxien” (dem schwarzen Loch und den sogenannten “narrow-” und “broad-line regions” direkt um das schwarze Loch herum) und ihre Beziehung zur Muttergalaxie.

Sie arbeitet gerne in der wissenschaftlich-stimulierenden Umgebung der UCSB und genießt es, in Santa Barbara zu leben – besonders weil die Sonne immer scheint und das Meer so nah ist! Aber sie vermisst auch ihre Freunde und Familie in Deuschland. In ihrer Freizeit erkundet sie die Natur Südkaliforniens, aber sie ist auch auf einer inneren Reise, in der sie Meditation in ihr tägliches Leben integriert.

  • Wie haben Sie vom Galaxien Zoo gehört?

Durch Zufall! Ich war an der UC Riverside und hatte einen Beobachtungsaufenthalt am 3m Shane-Teleskop des Lick Observatoriums, als Professor Bill Keel meine Chefin, Professor Gabriela Canalizo, fragte, ob wir bei der Gelegenheit ein Spektrum von “Hanny’s Voorwerp” aufnehmen könnten. Ich willigte ein, ging beobachten, hatte mehrere klare Nächte und konnte ein Spektrum des Objekts aufnehmen. Ich war sofort von dem Objekt beeindruckt, weil mir das Spektrum sehr bekannt vorkam – ähnlich den “narrow-line regions” von aktiven Galaxien, die ich intensiv während meiner Doktorarbeit studiert hatte, nur dass es bei diesem Objekt keinen Hinweis auf einen aktiven galaktischen Kern im Zentrum gab!

  • Wie sind sie hauptsächlich im Galaxien-Zoo-Projekt involviert?

Ich habe bei der Reduktion, Analyse und Interpretation der spektroskopischen Daten geholfen, die in der Entdeckungsveröffentlichung des “Voorwerps” integriert wurden. Später, durch einen weiteren Zufall, hat das Team nach jemandem gesucht, der Erfahrung in der Reduktion von HST Bildern hat, welche ich habe. Deshalb habe ich HST Bilder von sogenannten “grünen Erbsen” reduziert und analysiert, die im Galaxien-Zoo-Projekt entdeckt wurden. Dies wurde ein Teil einer weiteren Veröffentlichung, bei der ich bei der Interpretation der Ergebnisse geholfen habe.

  • Was mögen Sie am Meisten am Galaxien-Zoo-Projekt?

Es ist großartig, dass so viele Amateurastronomen involviert sind und dass das Projekt so eine starke Komponente der Öffentlichkeitsarbeit hat. Für mich ist Öffentlichkeitsarbeit nicht nur eine Pflicht als Wissenschaftlerin, da ich im Wesentlichen durch Steuergelder bezahlt werde, sondern auch eine Tätigkeit, die mir sehr viel Spaß macht. Ich liebe es zu sehen, wie Menschen sich für Astronomie und die Wissenschaft begeistern, mit der ich mich beschäftige.

  • Was ist Ihrer Meinung nach die interessanteste astronomische Fragestellung, die das Galaxien-Zoo-Projekt helfen wird zu beantworten?

Das Galaxien-Zoo-Projekt hat seinen Wert darin bewiesen, dass es seltene und interessante Objekte wie das Voorwerp findet, durch visuelle Inspektion von Bildern – ein grosser Vorteil von Menschen verglichen mit Robotern! Ich denke, das ist es, was der bleibende Wert des Galaxien-Zoo-Projektes sein wird, nicht die Antwort auf eine spezielle Fragestellung, für die das Projekt ins Leben gerufen wurde. Diese seltenen Objekte haben das Potential, uns neue und überraschende Einsichten zu geben.

  • Seit wann interessieren Sie sich für Astronomie?

Schon als Kind liebte ich es, die Sterne zu betrachten und war fasziniert von den Büchern von Professor Stephen W. Hawking, auch wenn ich zu der Zeit nicht allzu viel davon verstand… Jedenfalls hielt mich das nicht davon ab, eine wissenschaftliche Karriere auf diesem Gebiet zu verfolgen. Im Gegenteil, ich fand es immer spannend, an die Grenzen meines Verstehens zu kommen und ständig neue Dinge zu lernen.

  • Was (wenn überhaupt) denken Sie sind die wesentlichen Barrieren für Frauen in der Astronomie?

Mir gefällt die konkurrenzbetonte Art nicht, in der wissenschaftliche Ergebnisse dargestellt werden. Ich persönlich denke, dass es für Frauen schwierig sein muss, Kinder zu haben, während sie eine astronomische Karriere verfolgen, da beide Aufgaben sehr viel Zeit verlangen. Aber natürlich gibt es viele Frauen in der Astronomie, die bewiesen haben, dass es geht.

  • Haben Sie irgendwelche Vorbilder in der Astronomie?

Mein Doktorvater, Professor Hartmut Schulz, hat mich sehr beeinflusst. Ich sah in ihm immer einen dieser “altmodischen” Professoren, die nicht nur viel über Astronomie wissen, sondern auch sehr fundierte Grundkenntnisse haben und immer großen Wert darauf legen, selber zu denken. Leider verstarb Professor Schulz im August 2003. Ich erinnere mich gerne an ihn als meinen “Doktorvater” im wahrsten Sinne des Wortes.

Mein derzeitiger Chef an der UCSB, Professor Tommaso Treu, inspiriert mich ebenfalls ständig auf vielfältige Weise – er ist nicht nur sehr klug und effektiv, sondern auch immer fröhlich, voller Energie, und hilft seinen Studenten, ihr Potential voll auszuschöpfen.

Vardha’s Interview in English

This post is part of the ongoing She’s an Astronomer series on the Galaxy Zoo Blog is support of the IYA2009 cornerstone project of the same name (She’s an Astronomer). We are listed on the She’s an Astronomer website in their Profiles.

Still to come in the series – a few more Galaxy Zoo volunteers and researchers. We’re not quite done yet!

This German translation is of course part of our effort to be international!

January 12, 2010  

Galaxy Zoo: Dust in Spirals – accepted to MNRAS

My Galaxy Zoo paper on the dust content of spiral galaxies was accepted for publication in the Monthly Notice of the Royal Astronomical Society this morning, and will be available here on the ArXiV server after 1am GMT tomorrow (Wed 13th Jan 2010).

You can read about the work that went into this paper and our main results in my previous blog posts on its submission, about a scientific poster on the work, and finally my very first blog post here: “Blue Skies and Red Spirals”.

Happy reading, and thanks again for all the spirals!

December 15, 2009  

She’s an Astronomer: Els Baeten

Els Baeten

Els Baeten

Els’s interview in het Nederlands

Els Baeten (ElisabethB) lives in Belgium, in the old university town Leuven. She studied medicine for a few years, but then decided that it was not what she really wanted to do. She now works as a secretary in an SEO company.

When she isn’t busy doing anything Zoo-related she can be found at festivals, concerts, exhibitions and the theatre. She also loves reading and spending time with her family, friends and their children.

  • How did you first hear about Galaxy Zoo?

In July 2007 I was browsing the site of New Scientist and I came across an article about a new Internet based project called Galaxy Zoo. I immediately thought: this has to be good! At the first look I got hooked and I have been actively involved in most parts of the project ever since.

  • What has been your main involvement in the Galaxy Zoo project?

I’ve been involved in most of the projects. First of all classifying galaxies in Galaxy Zoo 1 and 2 of course, and I also really like the special hunts for mergers, peas and voorwerpjes.

My contribution to the Peas paper was finding lots of them. And it was really great to see my name mentioned in that paper! I’m also rather fond of Gravitational Lenses and if we could get some of them confirmed that would be great news indeed. For the moment I’m having a lot of fun with Merger Zoo and the Barred Spirals. And when I really want to relax I go asteroid-hunting. Wouldn’t it be great to have an asteroid named Galaxy Zoo!

  • What do you like most about being involved in Galaxy Zoo?

I love the fact that people from every background are able to make a real contribution to scientific research. It’s also great to be part of a team of enthusiastic people from all over the world.

And I’d never expected to meet so many new friends.

  • What do you think is the most interesting astronomical question Galaxy Zoo will help to solve?

I think there will be lots of questions solved with the results of Galaxy Zoo. Especially questions that nobody thought of in the first place, questions that pop up when a large amount of curious people sift through large amounts of data. In this respect Galaxy Zoo also offers new perspectives for other areas of scientific research.

  • How/when did you first get interested in Astronomy?

When I was young I saw all around me that science was a part of everyday life. Both my grandfathers were avid readers who loved sharing their knowledge about nature and everything with their grandchildren. I watched the first moon landing in my pyjamas together with my entire family. My sister, brother and I had a really big book with the history of the earth and also with lots of pictures of the solar system and the stars. I also have fond memories of watching Cosmos with Carl Sagan with my family. And our parents let us stay up very late during clear summer nights to watch the stars and the occasional meteor.

So stars and planets and everything that is out there have always been a part of my world.

  • What (if any) do you think are the main barriers to women’s involvement in Astronomy?

In my school, a traditional all girls school, I never had the impression that science and maths weren’t for girls. They were just subjects some of us were good at. But in general, a scientific career or any career for that matter, is still more difficult to achieve for a woman.

But as you can see with the Galaxy Zoo community there are lots of women involved of all ages and backgrounds. So I think we’re getting there, eventually.

  • Do you have any particular role models in Astronomy?

I don’t think I would use the word ‘role model’ but I really admire the Zookeepers and other astronomers involved for coming up with this great idea and continuously thinking of new ideas and projects. I especially admire the way they share their knowledge with us and the value they attach to our efforts.

Finally I’d like to thank my sister, Veerle, for helping me out with this blog post and Edd for the pictures.

Els’s interview in het Nederlands

This post is part of the ongoing She’s an Astronomer series on the Galaxy Zoo Blog is support of the IYA2009 cornerstone project of the same name (She’s an Astronomer). We are listed on the She’s an Astronomer website in their Profiles.

Still to come in the series – more Galaxy Zoo volunteers and researchers, it might be December 2009 – but we’re going to keep going for a few months more!

December 15, 2009  

Zij is een astronoom: Els Baeten

Our first She’s an Astronomer translation posted at the same time as the interview! Thanks Els.

Els Baeten

Els’s Interview in English.

Els Baeten (ElisabethB) woont in België, in de oude universiteitsstad Leuven. Ze studeerde enkele jaren geneeskunde maar besloot uiteindelijk dat dit  toch niet echt was wat ze wou doen. Ze werkt nu als secretaresse in een herverzekeringsmaatschappij.

Wanneer ze niet bezig is in de Zoo kan je haar vinden op festivals, concerten,  tentoonstellingen of in het theater. Ze houdt ook van lezen en brengt veel tijd door met haar familie, vrienden en hun kinderen.

  • Waar hoorde je het eerst over Galaxy Zoo ?

In juli 2007 zag ik een artikel op de site van New Scientist over een nieuw internet project : Galaxy Zoo. Mijn eerste reactie was : Dat ziet er goed uit ! Vanaf het eerste moment was ik helemaal verkocht en ik ben sindsdien actief betrokken bij de meeste projecten.

  • Wat zijn je belangrijkste verwezenlijkingen binnen Galaxy Zoo?

Eerst en vooral natuurlijk het classificeren van sterrenstelsels in Galaxy Zoo 1 en 2. En ik vond de speciale zoektochten naar botsende sterrenstelse (mergers), Peas en Voorwerpjes heel leuk om te doen.

Mijn bijdrage aan het Peas paper was dat ik er een heleboel gevonden heb. En je naam vermeld zien staan in een wetenschappelijk paper doet je toch wel wat.

Ik ben ook erg geïnteresseerd in zwaartekrachtlenzen en ik hoop echt dat enkele van onze vondsten the real deal zullen zijn!

Voor het ogenblik heb ik het naar mijn zin met Merger Zoo en de Barred Spirals (balkspiralen). En als  ik echt wil ontspannen ga ik op asteroïdenjacht. Zou het niet geweldig zijn : een asteroïde die Galaxy Zoo heet!

  • Wat vind je het leukste aan Galaxy Zoo ?

Ik vind het fantastisch dat mensen van totaal verschillende achtergronden kunnen bijdragen aan wetenschappelijk onderzoek. Het is ook geweldig om deel uit te maken van een team van enthousiaste mensen van alle uithoeken van de wereld. En ik had nooit gedacht dat ik zo veel nieuwe vrienden zou vinden.

  • Wat is de meest interessante astronomische vraag die Galaxy Zoo zal kunnen oplossen ?

Ik denk dat er een groot aantal vragen beantwoord zal worden dankzij de resultaten van Galaxy Zoo. En dan vooral vragen waar niemand ooit aan gedacht had. Vragen die opduiken wanneer heel veel nieuwsgierige mensen enorme massa’s gegevens doorzoeken. Galaxy Zoo gooit zo ook de deur open voor andere gebieden van wetenschappelijk onderzoek

  • Hoe en wanneer kwam je voor het eerst in contact met astronomie?

Als klein kind zag ik overal rondom mij dat wetenschap bij het leven van iedere dag hoorde. Mijn twee grootvaders waren gretige lezers die hun kennis over en liefde voor de natuur met veel enthousiasme met hun kleinkinderen wilden delen.

Ik zag de eerste maanlanding in mijn pyjama, samen met de hele familie. Mijn zus, broer en ik hadden een heel groot boek over de geschiedenis van de aarde, ook met een gedeelte over het zonnestelsel en de sterren. Ik heb ook hele mooie herinneringen aan Cosmos van Carl Sagan waar we met de hele familie naar keken.

En op heldere warme zomerdagen lieten onze ouders ons heel laat opblijven om te kijken naar de sterren en een toevallige meteoor.

Sterren en planeten en alles wat er rondom ons bestaat zijn altijd een deel van mijn wereld geweest.

  • Wat zijn de (eventuele) obstakels voor de deelname van vrouwen in de astronomie ?

Toen ik naar school ging, nochtans een traditionele meisjesschool, had ik nooit het gevoel dat wetenschappen en wiskunde niets voor meisjes waren. Het waren gewoon vakken waar sommige meisjes goed in waren. Maar in het algemeen is het toch nog steeds moeilijker voor vrouwen om een wetenschappelijke carrière, of eender welke carrière, uit te bouwen.

Maar zoals je kan zien zijn er in de Galaxy Zoo heel wat vrouwen van alle leeftijden en achtergronden. Dus zullen we er wel komen, uiteindelijk.

  • Heb je rolmodellen in de astronomie ?

Ik zou het woord rolmodel niet echt gebruiken maar ik bewonder de Zookeepers en de andere betrokken astronomen voor het bedenken van dit geweldige idee en de manier waarop ze telkens weer nieuwe projecten aanreiken. Ik bewonder heel speciaal de manier hoe ze hun kennis met ons delen en het belang dat ze aan onze bijdragen hechten.

Tenslotte zou ik nog graag mijn zus Veerle willen bedanken voor haar hulp bij het schrijven van deze blog post en Edd voor de foto.

Els’s Interview in English.

This post is part of the ongoing She’s an Astronomer series on the Galaxy Zoo Blog is support of the IYA2009 cornerstone project of the same name (She’s an Astronomer). We are listed on the She’s an Astronomer website in their Profiles.

Still to come in the series – more Galaxy Zoo volunteers and researchers, it might be December 2009 – but we’re going to keep going for a few months more!

December 12, 2009  

Zij is een astronoom: Hanny van Arkel

Our series of translations of the She’s an Astronomer interviews continues.

Hanny van Arkel

Hanny van Arkel

Hanny’s Interview in English

Hanny van Arkel is een 25-jarige lerares, die in het zuidoosten van Nederland woont met haar Duitse Herdershond Janey. Ze speelt gitaar en op het moment geeft ze muzieklessen op een basisschool in Heerlen, waar ze ook werkt aan het ontwerpen van wetenschapboxen (boxen met wetenschappelijke experimenten voor kinderen) en invalt waar nodig. Hanny ontdekte een object dat inmiddels bekend is als ‘Hanny’s Voorwerp’, toen ze in 2007 sterrenstelsels classificeerde op de Galaxy Zoo website. Sindsdien schrijft ze over haar avonturen opwww.hannysvoorwerp.com. (Foto: H. van Arkel).

  • Hoe hoorde je voor het eerst over Galaxy Zoo?

Ik heb een passie voor muziek en speel zelf gitaar. Brian May (Queen’s gitarist) is een van de mensen die ik bewonder om zijn muziek en om wat hij schrijft op zijn website,www.brianmay.com. Vlak nadat het project van start was gegaan, schreef Brian erover op zijn website. Hij vertelde dat je wetenschappers kon helpen door mooie foto’s te sorteren en dat leek me wel interessant.

  • Wat is je voornaamste betrokkenheid geweest in het Galaxy Zoo project?

Dat moet mijn ontdekking van ‘Hanny’s Voorwerp’ zijn en alles dat sindsdien gebeurd is. Ik classificeer ook nog, maar houd me voornamelijk bezig met het ‘verspreiden van de boodschap’ door interviews te doen met de (internationale) media. Ook geef ik lezingen over Hanny’s Voorwerp en Galaxy Zoo en werk ik bijvoorbeeld mee aan evenementen.

  • Wat vind je het leukst van het meedoen aan Galaxy Zoo?

Een van de dingen die ik nog steeds het leukst vind, is dat mensen zonder wetenschappelijke achtergrond daadwerkelijk een bijdrage kunnen leveren aan echt wetenschappelijk onderzoek. Persoonlijk krijg ik er ook heel veel voor terug en dan heb ik het nog niet eens over alle leuke dingen die ik door mijn ontdekking mag doen. Ik heb veel geleerd over astronomie in het algemeen en m’n Engelse vaardigheden zijn er ook op vooruit gegaan. Ook heb ik mensen ontmoet op een Galaxy Zoo-bijeenkomst, die ik nu tot mijn beste vriendenkring reken.

  • Wat is het meest interessante astronomische vraagstuk dat Galaxy Zoo zal helpen oplossen, denk je?

Buiten wat de onderzoeken naar Hanny’s Voorwerp zullen brengen, ben ik ook erg nieuwsgierig naar wat de ‘Peas’ (erwten) precies zijn, om twee voorbeelden te geven waarbij ik betrokken ben. Eigenlijk is het een moeilijke vraag, aangezien er veel dingen zijn die we kunnen leren en het project is zo’n succes… wie weet wat we nog meer zullen ontdekken in de toekomst?!

  • Hoe/wanneer werd je voor het eerst geïnteresseerd in astronomie?

Ik ben altijd al heel leergierig geweest en ik vond alle vakken op school leuk. Ik heb astronomie nooit als vak gehad, maar ik herinner me wel een klein project erover op mijn basisschool. Verder vond ik het altijd al fascinerend om ’s avonds naar de lucht te kijken, ook al heb ik geen telescoop. Maar wat m’n interesse eigenlijk echt aangewakkerd heeft is Galaxy Zoo, in de zomer van 2007.

  • Wat denk je dat de voornaamste belemmeringen zijn voor vrouwen, om betrokken te zijn bij astronomie?

Zijn die er? Ik bedoel, ik weet dat maar ongeveer een kwart van de professionele astronomen vrouw is, maar om eerlijk te zijn kan ik niets bedenken dat mij tegengehouden zou hebben.

  • Heb je rolmodellen uit de astronomie?

Ja, ik heb de afgelopen twee jaar veel mensen ontmoet die ik bewonder. Op de eerste plaats, de leden van het Galaxy Zoo team. Buiten het bedenken van dit geweldige idee en het harde werk dat ze ervoor doen, zorgen ze ervoor dat de vrijwilligers zich betrokken voelen. Zo nemen ze bijvoorbeeld de tijd om uitkomsten begrijpelijk uit te leggen. Ook heb ik respect voor de dingen die Pamela Gay doet; zij is een goed voorbeeld van ‘een vrouw in de astronomie’. Verder heb ik eens een lezing gegeven met Cees de Jager en het was leuk om iemand zo betrokken te zien. Patrick Moore, uiteraard. En Brian May, omdat hij na al die jaren terug naar school is gegaan om z’n opleiding af te maken. Tot slot heb ik recentelijk met een aantal mensen van ASTRON (het Nederlands instituut voor radioastronomie) gewerkt en ik vond de manier waarop Joeri van Leeuwen kinderen leerde over pulsars erg inspirerend. Om er een paar te noemen.

Hanny’s Interview in English

This post is part of the ongoing She’s an Astronomer series on the Galaxy Zoo Blog is support of the IYA2009 cornerstone project of the same name (She’s an Astronomer). We are listed on the She’s an Astronomer website in their Profiles.

This Dutch translation is of course part of our effort to be truly international!

Still to come in the series – more Galaxy Zoo volunteers and researchers. We’re not done yet!

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