Online help sought to organize galaxies
Scientists need help sorting through an unusual digital photo album: pictures of about 1 million galaxies. They are asking volunteers on the Internet to help classify the galaxies as either elliptical or spiral and note, where possible, in which direction they rotate.
It would be the largest galactic census ever compiled, something scientists say would provide new insight into the structure of the universe.
"We're in the golden era of astronomy," said Bob Nichol, an astronomer at the University of Portsmouth in southern England. "We have more data than we can assimilate, and we need help."
Astronomers say computer programs have been unable to reliably classify the star systems.
