Galaxy Zoo - where's the best forum to discuss images?

Could someone please tell me where on the Internet is the best place to
discuss images seen on Galaxy Zoo?

Example:

http://cas.sdss.org/astro/en/tools/e...38946137817120

I can't tell whether this is a bright blue star in front of an elliptical
galaxy, or something else.

Cheers!

John.

On Jul 20, 6:30 pm, "Icarus" wrote:
Could someone please tell me where on the Internet is the best place to
discuss images seen on Galaxy Zoo?

Example:

http://cas.sdss.org/astro/en/tools/e...38946137817120

I can't tell whether this is a bright blue star in front of an elliptical
galaxy, or something else.

Cheers!

John.

John,
When you see that shade of blue it suggests "star forming
region" That apperars to be a young, poorly organized galaxy
that is forming stars at a furious rate. The yellow spiral in
the background is more developed as its shape and color suggest.

Ben

"Ben" wrote in message
oups.com...
On Jul 20, 6:30 pm, "Icarus" wrote:
Could someone please tell me where on the Internet is the best place to
discuss images seen on Galaxy Zoo?

Example:

http://cas.sdss.org/astro/en/tools/e...38946137817120

I can't tell whether this is a bright blue star in front of an elliptical
galaxy, or something else.

Cheers!

John.

John,
When you see that shade of blue it suggests "star forming
region" That apperars to be a young, poorly organized galaxy
that is forming stars at a furious rate. The yellow spiral in
the background is more developed as its shape and color suggest.

Ben


I'd definitely like a better image for this one. I think it's a lenticular
galaxy with a burst of star formation probably caused by a collision with
another object. I'm inclined to regard both as being at the same distance,
ie, part of the same object with something going on to one side.

With this low quality image I'm not sure. Does the spectrum show the whole
object or only the yellow part? It looks like stellar content of relatively
young objects (Halpha, beta, and Gband), sort of mid F class for
light-weighted average.

--
Mike Dworetsky

(Remove pants sp*mbl*ck to reply)

On Jul 21, 4:17 am, "Mike Dworetsky"
wrote:
"Ben" wrote in message

oups.com...





On Jul 20, 6:30 pm, "Icarus" wrote:
Could someone please tell me where on the Internet is the best place to
discuss images seen on Galaxy Zoo?

Example:

http://cas.sdss.org/astro/en/tools/e...38946137817120

I can't tell whether this is a bright blue star in front of an elliptical
galaxy, or something else.

Cheers!

John.

John,
When you see that shade of blue it suggests "star forming
region" That apperars to be a young, poorly organized galaxy
that is forming stars at a furious rate. The yellow spiral in
the background is more developed as its shape and color suggest.

Ben

I'd definitely like a better image for this one. I think it's a lenticular
galaxy with a burst of star formation probably caused by a collision with
another object. I'm inclined to regard both as being at the same distance,
ie, part of the same object with something going on to one side.

With this low quality image I'm not sure. Does the spectrum show the whole
object or only the yellow part? It looks like stellar content of relatively
young objects (Halpha, beta, and Gband), sort of mid F class for
light-weighted average.

--
Mike Dworetsky

(Remove pants sp*mbl*ck to reply)- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Hi Mike,
Yes this galaxyzoo operation is strictly "whacha see's whacha
get".
I'm going by the following self-styled principles (subject to
revision):

(a) If the galaxy is irregular or lenticular call it elliptical.
(b) If the apparent eccentricity of the image is greater
than 0.9 call it edge on (spiral).
(c) If there is any absorption near the nucleus call it a spiral
and make a stab at the chirality. (Ellipticals generally
dont exhibit absorption material.)
(d) Don't classify them as "merging" unless there is some
deformation in one or the other.
(e) Look at the fringes of the image. If you see "tendrils"
of star streams resembling the cilia of a microorganism
its showing nascent spirality. The fringes of ellipticals
look like "star powder".

Any input is welcome.

Ben
PS: Did you ever get all those old photographic plates
filed and stored?

Ben wrote:
On Jul 20, 6:30 pm, "Icarus" wrote:
Could someone please tell me where on the Internet is the best place
to discuss images seen on Galaxy Zoo?

Example:

http://cas.sdss.org/astro/en/tools/e...38946137817120

I can't tell whether this is a bright blue star in front of an
elliptical galaxy, or something else.

Cheers!

John.

John,
When you see that shade of blue it suggests "star forming
region" That apperars to be a young, poorly organized galaxy
that is forming stars at a furious rate. The yellow spiral in
the background is more developed as its shape and color suggest.

Ben

Hi Ben

Thanks for the helpful information - I guessed that the blue colour might be
a star forming region but I wasn't sure if there are also stars that would
appear a similar colour.

OK here's another one for you (I'm not going to be posting enormous numbers
of these things but I hope people don't mind giving their opinions on a few
that are out of the ordinary):

http://cas.sdss.org/astro/en/tools/e...38953098068038

Is this also a 'young, poorly organised galaxy'? Is it unremarkable, or
worthy of an email to the Galaxy Zoo team?

Cheers :-)

John.

On Jul 21, 3:58 pm, "Icarus" wrote:
Ben wrote:
On Jul 20, 6:30 pm, "Icarus" wrote:
Could someone please tell me where on the Internet is the best place
to discuss images seen on Galaxy Zoo?

Example:

http://cas.sdss.org/astro/en/tools/e...38946137817120

I can't tell whether this is a bright blue star in front of an
elliptical galaxy, or something else.

Cheers!

John.

John,
When you see that shade of blue it suggests "star forming
region" That apperars to be a young, poorly organized galaxy
that is forming stars at a furious rate. The yellow spiral in
the background is more developed as its shape and color suggest.

Ben

Hi Ben

Thanks for the helpful information - I guessed that the blue colour might be
a star forming region but I wasn't sure if there are also stars that would
appear a similar colour.

OK here's another one for you (I'm not going to be posting enormous numbers
of these things but I hope people don't mind giving their opinions on a few
that are out of the ordinary):

http://cas.sdss.org/astro/en/tools/e...38953098068038

Is this also a 'young, poorly organised galaxy'? Is it unremarkable, or
worthy of an email to the Galaxy Zoo team?

Cheers :-)

John,
It appears to be a young dwarf and although it shows signs
of anticlockwise spirality across the S side I would call it in as
a merger owing to a couple of extra nuclear-looking bright spots.
I think its worth and email to them. Its unusual to the set they're
presenting.

Ben

Ben wrote:

http://cas.sdss.org/astro/en/tools/e...38953098068038
....
It appears to be a young dwarf and although it shows signs
of anticlockwise spirality across the S side I would call it in as
a merger owing to a couple of extra nuclear-looking bright spots.
I think its worth and email to them. Its unusual to the set they're
presenting.

Excellent, thanks for the information.

"Ben" wrote in message
oups.com...
On Jul 21, 4:17 am, "Mike Dworetsky"
wrote:
"Ben" wrote in message

oups.com...





On Jul 20, 6:30 pm, "Icarus" wrote:
Could someone please tell me where on the Internet is the best place
to
discuss images seen on Galaxy Zoo?

Example:

http://cas.sdss.org/astro/en/tools/e...38946137817120

I can't tell whether this is a bright blue star in front of an
elliptical
galaxy, or something else.

Cheers!

John.

John,
When you see that shade of blue it suggests "star forming
region" That apperars to be a young, poorly organized galaxy
that is forming stars at a furious rate. The yellow spiral in
the background is more developed as its shape and color suggest.

Ben

I'd definitely like a better image for this one. I think it's a
lenticular
galaxy with a burst of star formation probably caused by a collision with
another object. I'm inclined to regard both as being at the same
distance,
ie, part of the same object with something going on to one side.

With this low quality image I'm not sure. Does the spectrum show the
whole
object or only the yellow part? It looks like stellar content of
relatively
young objects (Halpha, beta, and Gband), sort of mid F class for
light-weighted average.

--
Mike Dworetsky

(Remove pants sp*mbl*ck to reply)- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Hi Mike,
Yes this galaxyzoo operation is strictly "whacha see's whacha
get".
I'm going by the following self-styled principles (subject to
revision):

(a) If the galaxy is irregular or lenticular call it elliptical.
(b) If the apparent eccentricity of the image is greater
than 0.9 call it edge on (spiral).
(c) If there is any absorption near the nucleus call it a spiral
and make a stab at the chirality. (Ellipticals generally
dont exhibit absorption material.)
(d) Don't classify them as "merging" unless there is some
deformation in one or the other.
(e) Look at the fringes of the image. If you see "tendrils"
of star streams resembling the cilia of a microorganism
its showing nascent spirality. The fringes of ellipticals
look like "star powder".

Any input is welcome.

Ben
PS: Did you ever get all those old photographic plates
filed and stored?



Oh, you're that Ben (I think). Yes, we are doing some of that as a summer
project.

--
Mike Dworetsky

(Remove pants sp*mbl*ck to reply)

Icarus:

Could someone please tell me where on the Internet is the best place to
discuss images seen on Galaxy Zoo?

Example:

http://cas.sdss.org/astro/en/tools/e...38946137817120

I can't tell whether this is a bright blue star in front of an elliptical
galaxy, or something else.

Cheers!

John.

Hi John,

Although some images might inspire further discussion, the web page itself
says "There's no need to agonise for too long over any one image, just
make your best guess in each case."
I take more time for some images, and zoom in or out using the same
tool you did. Just to say that I take it as seriously as you apparently
do. However, when I'm in real doubt I use the "Star/Don't know" button. I
think that when they put that message next to every image, they really
don't want you to agonise for too long... Probably the "Star/Don't know"
button brings images to their attention as well, but that's just a wild
guess.

Galaxy Zoo is fun, and interesting too. I'm glad to see I'm not the only
one who thinks so.

Boi.

801 wrote:
Icarus:

Could someone please tell me where on the Internet is the best place
to discuss images seen on Galaxy Zoo?

Example:

http://cas.sdss.org/astro/en/tools/e...38946137817120

I can't tell whether this is a bright blue star in front of an
elliptical galaxy, or something else.

Cheers!

John.

Hi John,

Although some images might inspire further discussion, the web page
itself says "There's no need to agonise for too long over any one
image, just make your best guess in each case."
I take more time for some images, and zoom in or out using the same
tool you did. Just to say that I take it as seriously as you
apparently do. However, when I'm in real doubt I use the "Star/Don't
know" button. I think that when they put that message next to every
image, they really don't want you to agonise for too long... Probably
the "Star/Don't know" button brings images to their attention as
well, but that's just a wild guess.

Galaxy Zoo is fun, and interesting too. I'm glad to see I'm not the
only one who thinks so.

Sensible comments, thank you. I wouldn't call myself any sort of
astronomer, amateur or otherwise, but I'm always interested in learning
about cosmology (amongst other things), so as well as being useful science I
also see Galaxy Zoo as a chance for me to learn something new and
interesting. If I can better understand what's going on in these images
then I'll hopefully be a little better at categorising galaxies *and* it'll
be more satisfying too :-)