You may notice a few new things are going on around the Zoo today. From today, you should be able to log in to both Galaxy Zoo itself and the forum at the same time with a single login and password. We are also creating a single profile page, so you can edit all your details in one place. We should have done this in the first place, but better late than never!
The short version of this post is that the sites will be down for a few hours today, and then you’ll be able to login to both the Zoo and forum with the same login. If you want the gory details, then read on :
Changes are coming…
Today is a big day for those of us who work behind the scenes at Galaxy Zoo. More news later but for now the forums are in maintenance mode and new registrations are disabled on the Zoo until this evening. More news later…
Cheers
Arfon
Beaten to the punch
Our own paper covering the discovery of Hanny’s Voorwerp is still working it’s way through the refereeing process. We’ve come up against a referee who really understands the subject and it’s taking time to put right our numerous missteps and to make everything clear. A new version will be submitted in the next couple of days, so hopefully you’ll be able to read it soon.
In the meantime, a group of Dutch radio astronomers have published a paper reporting their own results which is accepted and available online. They were kind enough to discuss it with us, and add some of the team to the list of authors – and they’ll be blogging here next week to tell you about what they’ve done.
It still hurts to be beaten to publication, but at least they’re friendly and it’s another sign of how this remarkable object has captured people’s attention.
Spread the word
In our latest (behind-the-scenes) update of the Galaxy Zoo blog software, we’ve installed a plug in that makes it easy for you to share any story on the blog that you particularly like via portals such as digg.com and facebook. If you do like a post and want to spread the word about it, all you have to do is click on`Bookmark it’ to submit the story.
Why do you zoo?, part two
A while ago we asked you to fill out a short survey about your thoughts about Galaxy Zoo. The purpose of this survey was to get an idea of what was inspiring people to participate in Galaxy Zoo. Thank you for participating in that survey. We are starting to analyze the results of that survey, and we’re learning some interesting things. We’re waiting to share the results until we are finished with all the research, so that we don’t run the risk of biasing your answers because you have heard about the results. But don’t worry, we’ll describe all the results here on the blog, just as we are doing with all the Galaxy Zoo research results.
We’d like to ask you a few follow-up questions about why you participate in Galaxy Zoo. Please click on the link below to answer a short 4-question survey. Your responses will help us learn more about why so many people have found Galaxy Zoo engaging, and will help us design future projects to be even more appealing.
Please click on the link below and fill out the short survey. Thank you for your help!
Galaxy Zoo user follow-up survey
Clear skies,
Jordan
We have liftoff!
Cape Canaveral, Florida – The space shuttle Atlantis lifted off today after a nearly flawless countdown, beginning an 11-day mission to refurbish and repair the Hubble Space Telescope for the final time. That’s how a news story would report it. But there’s a lot missing there, even from the viewpoint of spectators watching the launch. Read More…
Hubble refurbishment – the countdown continues
Galaxy Zoo participants usually have a keen interest in the Hubble Space Telescope. Not only has it delivered unparalleled views of galaxies, and advanced our understanding of cosmic distances, the relation between galaxies and black holes, and their coupled evolution – but we have a project scheduled for the coming year to observe Hanny’s Voorwerp with three of its instruments. Of these three, one is currently sitting in the payload bay of the space shuttle Atlantis, and the other two are out of commission awaiting a service call by the crew of Atlantis. These views (taken from the coast about 10 km from the site) show the shuttle at dusk on May 10, about 16 hours before scheduled launch (May 11, 1401 local EDT time or 1801 UT). The rotating service structure has been pulled around to keep it clear of the launch blast, and floodlights illuminate the entire pad area for continuing work. The safety measures enacted following the loss of Columbia and its crew have led to the unprecedented situation of the shuttle Endeavour sitting on the other launch pad, ready to be prepared for a rescue mission at short notice. This is needed because, unlike missions to the International Space Station, Hubble missions do not offer a safe haven in case of damage to the thermal protection system, or from impacts with space debris. This is the final scheduled visit to Hubble, so the crew has a full schedule of replacements and repairs. Stand by for updates…
Putting the 'O' in Zoo…
The Object of the Day thread on the forums is always worth watching, but today’s is particularly good. Jules explains what the mysterious object that forms the ‘O’ in the Galaxy Zoo logo is – and if you don’t know already, you might be surprised to find it isn’t a galaxy…
She's an Astronomer: Hanny van Arkel
Hanny’s interview in het Nederlands
Hanny van Arkel is a 25 year old teacher, who lives in the South East of the Netherlands with her German Shepherd, Janey. She plays guitar and at the moment she teaches music in a primary school in Heerlen, where she also works on science boxes (boxes of science experiments for kids) and is a general stand-in. Hanny discovered what is now known as “Hanny’s Voorwerp” while classifying galaxies on Galaxy Zoo, back in 2007. She writes about her adventures since then on www.hannysvoorwerp.com. (Picture Credit: H. van Arkel)
- How did you first hear about Galaxy Zoo?
I have a passion for music and play guitar myself. Brian May (Queen’s guitarist) is one of the people I admire for his music and for what he writes on his website, www.brianmay.com. When the project had just started, Brian wrote about it there, saying you could help scientists by sorting through these beautiful pictures. So that’s when I thought to check it out.
- What has been your main involvement in the Galaxy Zoo project?
That would be discovering “Hanny’s Voorwerp” and everything that happened ever since. I still classify galaxies as well, but mostly I ‘spread the word’ by talking to the (international) media, I give lectures about the Voorwerp and Galaxy Zoo and I participate in events, for example.
- What do you like most about being involved in Galaxy Zoo?
One of the things I still like is the fact that people without a scientific background can actually contribute to real scientific research here. And personally I get a lot back from it as well and then I’m not even talking about all the fun stuff I get to do. I’ve learned a lot about astronomy in general and the English language for that matter and I met some of my best friends through the Galaxy Zoo meet-ups.
- What do you think is the most interesting astronomical question Galaxy Zoo will help to solve?
Well, besides what the investigations of “Hanny’s Voorwerp” will bring, I’m also very curious as to what the “peas” exactly are, to just name two I’m involved in. But it’s a hard question actually, as there are so many things to learn from this project and it’s such a success… who knows what we’ll find out in the future?!
- How/when did you first get interested in Astronomy?
I’ve always been eager to learn and I liked all the subjects in school. I never had ‘astronomy’ as a subject though, but I do remember a little project about it in my primary school. However, I had always appreciated the night sky, even though I don’t have a telescope or anything. What really got me interested was Galaxy Zoo, back in the summer of 2007.
- What (if any) do you think are the main barriers to women’s involvement in Astronomy?
Are there? I mean, I know that only approximately a quarter of all professional astronomers are woman, but I can’t think of something that would’ve stopped me to be honest.
- Do you have any particular role models in Astronomy?
Yes, I’ve met a lot of people the past two years, who I admire. First of all, the members of the Galaxy Zoo Team. Besides coming up with this great idea and obviously working hard for it, they make sure the volunteers feel a part of it all. They take time to explain things in an understandable way, for instance. I also have respect for everything Pamela Gay does, she’s a very good example of a successful woman in astronomy. Furthermore I did a lecture together with Cees de Jager (website in Dutch) once, and it was great to see someone being so devoted to astronomy as he was. Patrick Moore, obviously. And Brian May, for ‘going back to school’ after all those years. And I recently worked with a few people from ASTRON (the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy) and thought the way Joeri van Leeuwen taught kids about pulsars was very inspiring. To name just a few.
IYA 2009: She's an Astronomer
As most of you are aware, 2009 is the International Year of Astronomy, and all sorts of projects have been launched to promote astronomy. One of the IYA2009 Cornerstone projects is She’s an Astronomer and its aim is to address the issues around gender imbalance in astronomy (only roughly 1/4 of professional astronomers are women) by promoting gender equality and empowering women.
At Galaxy Zoo we have decided to participate in the She’s an Astronomer project. Throughout 2009 we will be posting to the Galaxy Zoo blog profiles and interviews of women who have been involved in the Galaxy Zoo project (both as volunteers and as scientists). We hope you will enjoy reading about the wide variety of women who have been and continue to be involved in the Galaxy Zoo project.
The first post – about Hanny van Arkel will follow shortly.
