Galaxy Zoo Throws in Mergers
Galaxy Zoo, just kicked off a new project: mergers! For those unfamiliar with Galaxy Zoo, it’s a project started a couple years ago that takes data from the robotic Sloan Digital Sky Survey and distributes it online. Using an applet, users can look at a galaxy and use tools to identify its features and classify it. For a detailed explanation of Galaxy Zoo, read The Story So Far.
Earlier this year the Galaxy Zoo team attempted to start a new project to identify supernovae, but it had a few hiccups and was put back in development. However, today they rolled out a new project that allows us to help them identify and classify galactic mergers. These are some of the most beautiful objects in the Universe, when two or more galaxies are drawn together and fling apart and then together as their constituents are ripped by tidal forces. It looks violent, but there’s literally so much space between stars in a galaxy that few if any ever actually collide as a result. What I find really cool about this new project is that the applet identifies a merger, then runs a series of quick 2D simulations of galactic mergers with different parameters. We look at the results and see if any of these match the look of the actual galaxy. If a match is found, then it helps explain the initial conditions that lead to the merger.
Neat stuff! Join in and help out!