Playing in the (Mobile) Galactic Zoo!

Photo Courtesy: Zooniverse

Last year we first looked at the GalaxyZoo: Hubble project from the Zooniverse.  This well-designed project needs your help cataloging the wide variety of galaxies captured by the Hubble Space Telescope.  It's been a highly successful  project that has published a number of peer-reviewed papers based on the data collected.  Not only is it easy to learn and fun to participate in, but it makes an important contribution to the field of astronomy.

Building on this success, the Zooniverse group has created it's first mobile application based on GalaxyZoo.  Everything is pretty much the same...participants are asked to identify the same features on the same images as those in the online version.  But as a phone application you can do it anywhere and anytime.  So if you have a few minutes to kill at the Subway stop or want to show your friends at the pub the fun of citizen science, this application is for you.

Getting Started is Easy:

• Visit the Zooniverse sites online to register as a user.  They don't require much information (only name and e-mail); just enough to give you credit for your work.
• Download the GalaxyZoo App from either the Apple App Store or Android Play Store.  It's free from both so don't worry about the credit card.
• Start the app and log on with your username and password.  After a short delay to stockpile (e.g., download) galaxy images, click "Done" to get started.
• Your phone will show an image of each galaxy with a series of questions on bottom about how the galaxy appears.  Logos with examples of each galaxy type are also included to help you answer each question.  Just click on the appropriate answer and the next one will pop up.  For example,
• Question 1: Is the galaxy simply smooth and rounded, with no sign of a disk? 

Photo Courtesy:
Zooniverse and OpenScientist.org

• Question 2: Does the galaxy have a mostly clumpy appearance?

Photo Courtesy:
Zooniverse and OpenScientist.org

• Question 3: Is there a sign of a bar feature through the centre of the galaxy? 

Photo Courtesy:
Zooniverse and OpenScientist.org

• Answer each to the best of your ability, but don't stress over each image.  Many other people will also be reviewing them with the results combined to help reduce any potential errors.  You can also go back at any point with the "Undo" feature in case you want to change an answer.
• If some of the galaxies are difficult to classify or you don't understand what the researchers are looking for, check out the online tutorial for descriptions, examples, and sample quizzes.
• If you have further trouble with any aspect of the app, check out the GalaxyZoo iPhone instruction page for help.

That's all there is to it.  Hopefully you'll have as much fun with this mobile app as you have with the many other Zooniverse citizen science applications that are also available.  But if not, check out some of the many other programs we're collecting on the new "Citizen Science for your Phone" page.

Finally, let us know if you have any more mobile citizen science apps you'd like us to highlight.  We always appreciate the help!



FOR MORE MOBILE APPS VISIT THE NEW Citizen Science for your Phone PAGE !

Citizen Science for your Phone



Photo Courtesy: Dmitri N.

Today we offer a brand new feature on OpenScientist...a listing of all the mobile iPhone and Android citizen science applications now available.  Some of these we've discussed before but now all projects can be found in one place.  No need to search around for them any more!  Just follow the "Citizen Science For Your Phone" link on the left-hand side to find them all.

Over the next few days and weeks I'll be adding even more apps to the page.  But don't let that stop you...there are a number already listed.  Check it out and download some free mobile apps now!

Making Old Weather New Again

Last year we talked about the OldWeather project and it's attempt to gather data from 100-year old naval records.  All ships back then recorded local conditions in a highly consistent way, creating a reliable record useful for climate change research.  They also traveled across the globe, providing a rich data collection unmatched elsewhere.  As citizen scientists we were asked to view images of the ships logs and transcribe the data into a usable electronic form.  This program has been going strong with many ship's logs completed.  Find out more, or better yet, join the action, by reading all about it here on OpenScientist.

But that's not all.  The logs provide more than just weather data, they also provide key insights into the ship's journeys and reveal much about life at sea.  This is of great interest to naval historians who have set about turning these logs and transcriptions into a compelling narrative.  And they need your help too.

Getting Started is Easy:

1. Visit the OldWeather web site to learn more about the project and the ships being researched.
2. Find a ship you are interested in and whose logs have already been transcribed.
3. Visit the Naval History Homepage to learn more about the log editing project.
4. Let the editors know which ship(s) you are interested in editing by sending an e-mail to naval-history@ntlworld.net.  They will respond back with a Microsoft Word file containing a raw feed of the transcribed logs.
5. Now you can start editing!  Learn the common abbreviations and style requirements at , and you will also receive instructions with the e-mail word file.  Follow them closely so everyone can produce a consistent product.
6. Mail your finished narrative to the Naval History editors.  That's all there is to it!

The beauty of this project is that it not only lets you work with important scientific data from the last century, but it brings that data to life with the exciting voyages taken to collect it.  So we get to enjoy citizen science from a whole new perspective. 

Isn't it fun to see things with fresh eyes?

Catching a Fallen Star!

We've all seen meteors flash across the sky.  It's an awe-inspiring sight to watch as an ancient rock ends its billion-mile journey in our atmosphere.  But have you ever actually found one after it fell?!?!

Last week LifesLittleMysteries published an article on "How to Find a Meteorite in 5 Steps".  It's a quick and simple guide, much like the "Getting Started is Easy" steps we provide for projects on this site.  It's also a great reminder that interesting science remains available to anyone, you just have to know where, and how, to look.   You might even earn some money doing it.  As we learn in the article:

Go ahead and put it on your mantle, but please take a moment to share news of your find with scientists. Though thousands of meteorites have been catalogued already, each new one is a fresh data point, and could contain a key to one of the many unanswered questions about the solar system's formation and evolution....If you need further incentive for finding something that was forged at the birth of our sun and contains secrets about the nature of our solar system, there's this: Space rocks are worth as much as $1,000 per gram.

So what are you waiting for...get hunting!

I should also note that this is exactly the type of article highlighted on our Facebook and Twitter feeds.  This one was too good to pass up and got posted here.  But most don't.  Instead I focus on citizen science project descriptions, opinion pieces, and larger articles in this blog and leave the smaller items for my social media sites.  So don't just read one...read both!  Sign up now and donit miss a thing.

Find Beautiful but Overlooked Hubble Pictures

Thanks for being patient as I recharged the old batteries.  Now I'm back from vacation tanned and rested. So it's time to continue the OpenScientist journey...because citizen science keeps moving forward.

Starting simple, today I'm looking at a new contest from NASA and the European Space Agency.  They want our help combing through millions of archived Hubble Telescope pictures to find the most breath-taking, iconic pictures possible.  Sure thousands have been published in the telescope's 25 year history.  But there are many hidden treasures that have not been publicized and are waiting for us to discover them.

There are actually two parts to the contest: the first is searching through the archive for interesting pictures.  Although you can make a few artistic changes to them (like cropping the edges or increasing the contrast) you are mainly submitting the raw image as your contest entry.  The second version asks contestants to alter the images using any photo-manipulation software they wish.  So you can just do a scan for cool photos and submit as is, or let your creativity run wild.

Winners of this contest receive the main prize of seeing their pictures prominently publicized by ESA and NASA.  But adding spice to this dish, the winner of the contests can win an iPod Touch, iPad, and other items.  So what are you waiting for?

Getting Started is Easy:

• Visit the Hidden Treasures web site to learn more about the telescope and read the contest rules.
• Read instructions on how to participate in both the Hidden Treasures 2012 Contest and Hidden Treasures 2012 Image Processing Contest.
• Watch tutorials on searching the Hubble archive here.
• Once you've found an interesting image, play around with the image a bit by adjusting the sky darkness, lightening or darkening the image, and cropping it in an interesting way.  It's just a minor amount (outside of the image processing contest) but can really make the image pop.
• Once it's set, save it by clicking the floppy disk icon.  This will add it to a public Flickr account for  the world to see.  Just make sure to add the image's name and the URL where it is located in the archive so everyone else (including the judges) can find it.
• That's it!

I think you'll find this a fun and interesting project just by itself.  The iPod and iPad prizes are just bonuses.  But even more, I hope you have fun searching an existing archive of real-world NASA data for your own important discoveries.  There is a world of new information that professional scientists have only begun to crack.  They make the data available to everyone...it's up to us to use it.