Comments on: Galaxy Zoo! http://cosmicvariance.com/2007/07/12/galaxy-zoo/ Random samplings from a universe of ideas Sun, 07 Sep 2008 13:08:09 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: Apparent Brightness · The Galaxy Zoo http://cosmicvariance.com/2007/07/12/galaxy-zoo/#comment-303518 Apparent Brightness · The Galaxy Zoo Fri, 02 Nov 2007 07:53:21 +0000 http://cosmicvariance.com/2007/07/12/galaxy-zoo/#comment-303518 [...] has already been all over the news and blogs, but I cannot resist to comment a little more on the newly opened Galaxy [...] [...] has already been all over the news and blogs, but I cannot resist to comment a little more on the newly opened Galaxy [...]

]]> By: mollishka http://cosmicvariance.com/2007/07/12/galaxy-zoo/#comment-296847 mollishka Thu, 26 Jul 2007 02:41:35 +0000 http://cosmicvariance.com/2007/07/12/galaxy-zoo/#comment-296847 Potentially relevant (though not from any of the GalaxyZoo crowd): http://arxiv.org/abs/0707.3793 Potentially relevant (though not from any of the GalaxyZoo crowd): http://arxiv.org/abs/0707.3793

]]> By: mollishka http://cosmicvariance.com/2007/07/12/galaxy-zoo/#comment-296761 mollishka Wed, 25 Jul 2007 03:20:58 +0000 http://cosmicvariance.com/2007/07/12/galaxy-zoo/#comment-296761 The whole CW or CCW thing does seem.... odd, though if people consistently say the same chirality, perhaps the sprial classification is more believable? "Does it have a bar?" seems more straightforward, although again difficult with the SDSS resolution. Mmmm, galaxies... The whole CW or CCW thing does seem…. odd, though if people consistently say the same chirality, perhaps the sprial classification is more believable? “Does it have a bar?” seems more straightforward, although again difficult with the SDSS resolution.

Mmmm, galaxies…

]]> By: Paul http://cosmicvariance.com/2007/07/12/galaxy-zoo/#comment-296716 Paul Tue, 24 Jul 2007 13:44:45 +0000 http://cosmicvariance.com/2007/07/12/galaxy-zoo/#comment-296716 I visit GalaxyZoo between reviewing proposals at NSF! And no, I'm not in the astronomy division, so you can't blame any declines on me... Can't wait for the "My Galaxies" function to be enabled, or the brief glimpse we got of "My Statistics" (since disappeared...). I visit GalaxyZoo between reviewing proposals at NSF! And no, I’m not in the astronomy division, so you can’t blame any declines on me…

Can’t wait for the “My Galaxies” function to be enabled, or the brief glimpse we got of “My Statistics” (since disappeared…).

]]> By: 1234567890 http://cosmicvariance.com/2007/07/12/galaxy-zoo/#comment-295662 1234567890 Mon, 16 Jul 2007 04:00:34 +0000 http://cosmicvariance.com/2007/07/12/galaxy-zoo/#comment-295662 http://flickr.com/groups/galaxyzoo/ You can submit interesting finds to this Flickr group. http://flickr.com/groups/galaxyzoo/

You can submit interesting finds to this Flickr group.

]]> By: Matt http://cosmicvariance.com/2007/07/12/galaxy-zoo/#comment-295537 Matt Sun, 15 Jul 2007 14:50:35 +0000 http://cosmicvariance.com/2007/07/12/galaxy-zoo/#comment-295537 Hey. I found a set of Hoag objects/polar ring galaxies (one even merging), but how the hell was I meant to classify those suckers; Just about all you can do is send them in via email. Amazing though. Hey. I found a set of Hoag objects/polar ring galaxies (one even merging), but how the hell was I meant to classify those suckers; Just about all you can do is send them in via email.

Amazing though.

]]> By: Ben http://cosmicvariance.com/2007/07/12/galaxy-zoo/#comment-295461 Ben Sun, 15 Jul 2007 01:54:17 +0000 http://cosmicvariance.com/2007/07/12/galaxy-zoo/#comment-295461 Risa - Now that I've read their tutorial more carefully, it looks like they mention irregular galaxies, but they put them in the "Star/Don't Know" class (!) That's probably where blobby things were intended to go, but it seems like an unfortunate choice. It's somewhat odd that they force you to choose spirals being clockwise, anti-clockwise, or edge-on, since it's entirely possible to have a disk galaxy whose spiral pattern is indistinct at SDSS resolution. I took their test and got 15/15 (not that I'm boasting or anything) but there was one disk where I was guessing at the sense of the spiral. A greater value of this method than spins, I think, would be to find rare and interesting objects. However, one problem with having Web 2.0 classify for unusual objects is that you have to teach the classifiers what is unusual. Maybe they'll learn after looking at 1000 galaxies Mergers are one example, which they already do have a button for. Although I already know of a student who's gone through SDSS looking for mergers (and I'm trying to do it automatically), so in the fullness of time it would be interesting to compare the results. Risa - Now that I’ve read their tutorial more carefully, it looks like they mention irregular galaxies, but they put them in the “Star/Don’t Know” class (!) That’s probably where blobby things were intended to go, but it seems like an unfortunate choice. It’s somewhat odd that they force you to choose spirals being clockwise, anti-clockwise, or edge-on, since it’s entirely possible to have a disk galaxy whose spiral pattern is indistinct at SDSS resolution. I took their test and got 15/15 (not that I’m boasting or anything) but there was one disk where I was guessing at the sense of the spiral.

A greater value of this method than spins, I think, would be to find rare and interesting objects.
However, one problem with having Web 2.0 classify for unusual objects is that you have to teach the classifiers what is unusual. Maybe they’ll learn after looking at 1000 galaxies Mergers are one example, which they already do have a button for. Although I already know of a student who’s gone through SDSS looking for mergers (and I’m trying to do it automatically), so in the fullness of time it would be interesting to compare the results.

]]> By: Risa http://cosmicvariance.com/2007/07/12/galaxy-zoo/#comment-295267 Risa Fri, 13 Jul 2007 20:02:13 +0000 http://cosmicvariance.com/2007/07/12/galaxy-zoo/#comment-295267 Hey Ben -- I agree, they do seem to sort of be pushing this angle in the website and press. Frankly that seems a bit silly to me, since I agree, there's almost no way theorists would believe it if they do find a result. However, I do think they have much broader goals, one of the participants told me that they have a number of projects in galaxy formation and cosmology intended. But yes, I think if they are going to do it they should trust people more. In particular, I think it's silly to trust *individuals* much, but I'm guessing they can pretty easily get 10 classifications per galaxy (apparently, they had 300,000 classified after one day) -- and then it makes sense to have more categories. Fewer categories in some sense makes things *less* reliable, since I get all confused about e.g. putting star forming blobby looking things in the same category as classic massive ellipticals. Hey Ben — I agree, they do seem to sort of be pushing this angle in the website and press. Frankly that seems a bit silly to me, since I agree, there’s almost no way theorists would believe it if they do find a result. However, I do think they have much broader goals, one of the participants told me that they have a number of projects in galaxy formation and cosmology intended. But yes, I think if they are going to do it they should trust people more. In particular, I think it’s silly to trust *individuals* much, but I’m guessing they can pretty easily get 10 classifications per galaxy (apparently, they had 300,000 classified after one day) — and then it makes sense to have more categories. Fewer categories in some sense makes things *less* reliable, since I get all confused about e.g. putting star forming blobby looking things in the same category as classic massive ellipticals.

]]> By: Ben http://cosmicvariance.com/2007/07/12/galaxy-zoo/#comment-295262 Ben Fri, 13 Jul 2007 18:28:32 +0000 http://cosmicvariance.com/2007/07/12/galaxy-zoo/#comment-295262 Great, now that I've finally figured out how to do visual morphological classification, now SDSS is trying to put me out of work (or "render redundant" in the British phrase) by outsourcing classification to a bunch of unpaid Web 2.0ers. Seriously, I think the project is trying to do something limited, which is to classify which way galaxies are rotating (CW or CCW) to look for very large scale spin alignments. This is a low percentage project in some sense (as in, even if they turn up a signal, hordes of theorists will refuse to believe it at first). It's likely that they didn't want to assign a bunch of untrained classifiers the task of finding unusual or interesting objects. Your point may be that they should be trusting their audience more. Great, now that I’ve finally figured out how to do visual morphological classification, now SDSS is trying to put me out of work (or “render redundant” in the British phrase) by outsourcing classification to a bunch of unpaid Web 2.0ers.

Seriously, I think the project is trying to do something limited, which is to classify which way galaxies are rotating (CW or CCW) to look for very large scale spin alignments. This is a low percentage project in some sense (as in, even if they turn up a signal, hordes of theorists will refuse to believe it at first). It’s likely that they didn’t want to assign a bunch of untrained classifiers the task of finding unusual or interesting objects. Your point may be that they should be trusting their audience more.

]]> By: Troy http://cosmicvariance.com/2007/07/12/galaxy-zoo/#comment-295218 Troy Fri, 13 Jul 2007 08:17:19 +0000 http://cosmicvariance.com/2007/07/12/galaxy-zoo/#comment-295218 I've made a blog for the purpose of exhibiting any really cool galaxies that anybody sees through Galaxy Zoo: http://galaxyzoo.wordpress.com Please come and send in links to photos of the most-interesting galaxies! I’ve made a blog for the purpose of exhibiting any really cool galaxies that anybody sees through Galaxy Zoo: http://galaxyzoo.wordpress.com

Please come and send in links to photos of the most-interesting galaxies!

]]> By: Paul Valletta http://cosmicvariance.com/2007/07/12/galaxy-zoo/#comment-295215 Paul Valletta Fri, 13 Jul 2007 07:05:54 +0000 http://cosmicvariance.com/2007/07/12/galaxy-zoo/#comment-295215 It would be interesting to find out those who see "circus bear atop a unicorn", or " big bad wolf attacking a horse, whos legs have clearly collapsed" ? It would be interesting to find out those who see “circus bear atop a unicorn”, or ” big bad wolf attacking a horse, whos legs have clearly collapsed” ?

]]> By: Paul Valletta http://cosmicvariance.com/2007/07/12/galaxy-zoo/#comment-295214 Paul Valletta Fri, 13 Jul 2007 06:58:20 +0000 http://cosmicvariance.com/2007/07/12/galaxy-zoo/#comment-295214 Has anyone seen the "circus bear riding a unicorn" ? http://www.isas.jaxa.jp/e/snews/2007/0711.shtml#fig4 fugure four Cygnus, if one angles the image so that the top left corner and bottom right corner are vertical, then you can clearly see an amazing acrobat! Just cant imagine how our ancestors, who gave amazing names to constellations and such, could have missed that one? Has anyone seen the “circus bear riding a unicorn” ?

http://www.isas.jaxa.jp/e/snews/2007/0711.shtml#fig4

fugure four Cygnus, if one angles the image so that the top left corner and bottom right corner are vertical, then you can clearly see an amazing acrobat!

Just cant imagine how our ancestors, who gave amazing names to constellations and such, could have missed that one?

]]> By: Coin http://cosmicvariance.com/2007/07/12/galaxy-zoo/#comment-295158 Coin Fri, 13 Jul 2007 01:39:02 +0000 http://cosmicvariance.com/2007/07/12/galaxy-zoo/#comment-295158 <i>and the mysterious zwarning NOT_GAL</i> If I had to hazard a guess as to what that's short for, I'd go with "not a galaxy". Hmm.. and the mysterious zwarning NOT_GAL

If I had to hazard a guess as to what that’s short for, I’d go with “not a galaxy”. Hmm..

]]> By: Bruce http://cosmicvariance.com/2007/07/12/galaxy-zoo/#comment-295135 Bruce Thu, 12 Jul 2007 21:19:21 +0000 http://cosmicvariance.com/2007/07/12/galaxy-zoo/#comment-295135 Yep, well, I already did a couple dozen today so we're pretty well close to finishing by late next week. Always happy to help out. Yep, well, I already did a couple dozen today so we’re pretty well close to finishing by late next week.
Always happy to help out.

]]> By: Kevin Marks http://cosmicvariance.com/2007/07/12/galaxy-zoo/#comment-295128 Kevin Marks Thu, 12 Jul 2007 18:53:13 +0000 http://cosmicvariance.com/2007/07/12/galaxy-zoo/#comment-295128 Sounds like what they need is free tagging as well, so you can call out your descriptive labels, and others, like the Q-shaped galaxy. Flickr's galaxy tag clusters are amusing: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/galaxy/clusters/ but this one seems to have found the ones you like: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/galaxy/clusters/astronomy-andromeda-astrophotography/ Sounds like what they need is free tagging as well, so you can call out your descriptive labels, and others, like the Q-shaped galaxy.

Flickr’s galaxy tag clusters are amusing:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/galaxy/clusters/

but this one seems to have found the ones you like:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/galaxy/clusters/astronomy-andromeda-astrophotography/

]]> By: Risa http://cosmicvariance.com/2007/07/12/galaxy-zoo/#comment-295081 Risa Thu, 12 Jul 2007 14:39:20 +0000 http://cosmicvariance.com/2007/07/12/galaxy-zoo/#comment-295081 Thanks, theomin -- Fixed. Thanks, theomin — Fixed.

]]> By: Quasar9 http://cosmicvariance.com/2007/07/12/galaxy-zoo/#comment-295063 Quasar9 Thu, 12 Jul 2007 12:45:52 +0000 http://cosmicvariance.com/2007/07/12/galaxy-zoo/#comment-295063 lol Risa, love the error message on Galaxy Zoo link "You are looking for something that doesn'r exist - (Aren't we All)" Is that a deliberate mistake "The hope is that about 30,000 people might take part in a project that could help reveal whether our existing models of the Universe are correct." - from the BBC link. In the meantime here's a view of <a href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_5WwYNr2qHXQ/RpYHowgmfsI/AAAAAAAAAak/X8e_OymezWI/s1600-h/Akari+maps+universe.jpg" rel="nofollow">The Galactic Plane in the infrared</a> from <a href="http://www.ir.isas.jaxa.jp/ASTRO-F/Outreach/results/results_e.html" rel="nofollow">Akari Results</a> lol Risa, love the error message on Galaxy Zoo link
“You are looking for something that doesn’r exist - (Aren’t we All)”

Is that a deliberate mistake

“The hope is that about 30,000 people might take part in a project that could help reveal whether our existing models of the Universe are correct.” - from the BBC link.

In the meantime here’s a view of The Galactic Plane in the infrared from Akari Results

]]> By: theomin http://cosmicvariance.com/2007/07/12/galaxy-zoo/#comment-295054 theomin Thu, 12 Jul 2007 11:16:31 +0000 http://cosmicvariance.com/2007/07/12/galaxy-zoo/#comment-295054 Just wanted to point out that the url-link of Galaxy Zoo needs to be fixed ;-) Just wanted to point out that the url-link of Galaxy Zoo needs to be fixed ;-)

]]> By: Galaxy Zoo « Phase Transitions http://cosmicvariance.com/2007/07/12/galaxy-zoo/#comment-295051 Galaxy Zoo « Phase Transitions Thu, 12 Jul 2007 11:10:48 +0000 http://cosmicvariance.com/2007/07/12/galaxy-zoo/#comment-295051 [...] PS: there is a more detailed account of it in Cosmic Variance: Galaxy Zoo! [...] [...] PS: there is a more detailed account of it in Cosmic Variance: Galaxy Zoo! [...]

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