Zooniverse (citizen science project)
Encyclopedia
Zooniverse is a citizen science
web portal
that grew from the original Galaxy Zoo
project. It hosts numerous projects which allow users to participate in scientific research from classifying galaxies to collating climate data. Unlike many early internet-based citizen science projects such as SETI@home
which used spare computer processing power to analyse data, known as volunteer computing
, Zooniverse projects require the active participation of human volunteers to complete research tasks. , the community consists of 451,644 volunteers, collectively referred to as "Zooites".
Citizen science
Citizen science is a term used for the systematic collection and analysis of data; development of technology; testing of natural phenomena; and the dissemination of these activities by researchers on a primarily avocational basis...
web portal
Web portal
A web portal or links page is a web site that functions as a point of access to information in the World Wide Web. A portal presents information from diverse sources in a unified way....
that grew from the original Galaxy Zoo
Galaxy Zoo
Galaxy Zoo is an online astronomy project which invites members of the public to assist in the morphological classification of large numbers of galaxies. It is an example of citizen science as it enlists the help of members of the public to help in scientific research. An improved version—Galaxy...
project. It hosts numerous projects which allow users to participate in scientific research from classifying galaxies to collating climate data. Unlike many early internet-based citizen science projects such as SETI@home
SETI@home
SETI@home is an Internet-based public volunteer computing project employing the BOINC software platform, hosted by the Space Sciences Laboratory, at the University of California, Berkeley, in the United States. SETI is an acronym for the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence...
which used spare computer processing power to analyse data, known as volunteer computing
Volunteer computing
Volunteer computing is a type of distributed computing in which computer owners donate their computing resources to one or more "projects".-History:...
, Zooniverse projects require the active participation of human volunteers to complete research tasks. , the community consists of 451,644 volunteers, collectively referred to as "Zooites".
Projects
Active projects currently include:| Project | Description |
|---|---|
| Galaxy Zoo Hubble Galaxy Zoo Galaxy Zoo is an online astronomy project which invites members of the public to assist in the morphological classification of large numbers of galaxies. It is an example of citizen science as it enlists the help of members of the public to help in scientific research. An improved version—Galaxy... |
The latest incarnation of the Galaxy Zoo project. It involves classifying hundreds of thousands of galaxies drawn from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope Hubble Space Telescope The Hubble Space Telescope is a space telescope that was carried into orbit by a Space Shuttle in 1990 and remains in operation. A 2.4 meter aperture telescope in low Earth orbit, Hubble's four main instruments observe in the near ultraviolet, visible, and near infrared... archive. It includes galaxies with 'blue clumps' that may represent a stage in the maturing of galaxies into modern forms. |
| Galaxy Zoo Mergers | Using galactic merger discovered by the Galaxy Zoo project to study the dynamics of interacting galaxies. |
| Galaxy Zoo Supernovae | Using the Palomar Transient Factory Palomar Transient Factory The Palomar Transient Factory is an astronomical wide-field survey designed to search for optical transient and variable sources. It is fully automated, including a wide-field survey camera, an automated realtime data reduction pipeline, a dedicated photometric follow up telescope, and a full... survey to search for supernovae for quick follow-up study by telescopes around the world. |
| Moon Zoo | High-resolution images of the Moon's surface provided by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter The Lunar Precursor Robotic Program is a program of robotic spacecraft missions which NASA will use to prepare for future human spaceflight missions to the Moon. Two LPRP missions, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite , were launched in June 2009... are used by volunteers to create detailed crater counts Crater counting Crater counting is a method for estimating the age of a planet's surface. The method is based upon the assumptions that a new surface forms with zero impact craters, and that impact craters accumulate at some constant rate... , mapping the variation in age of lunar rocks. |
| Old Weather Old Weather Old Weather is an online weather data project that invites members of the public to assist in digitising weather observations recorded in Royal Navy log books during the early twentieth century. Earlier material may be incorporated in future. It is an example of citizen science that enlists members... |
Zooites use a special interface to digitally transcribe weather data from the log books of World War 1 era Royal Navy Royal Navy The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service... ships. The information will be used to improve climate modelling. |
| Solar Stormwatch | The project uses data including video imagery from the twin STEREO STEREO STEREO is a solar observation mission. Two nearly identical spacecraft were launched into orbits that cause them to respectively pull farther ahead of and fall gradually behind the Earth... spacecraft to track the formation and evolution of coronal mass ejection Coronal mass ejection A coronal mass ejection is a massive burst of solar wind, other light isotope plasma, and magnetic fields rising above the solar corona or being released into space.... s. |
| Planet Hunters | Identifying extrasolar planets from the light curve Light curve In astronomy, a light curve is a graph of light intensity of a celestial object or region, as a function of time. The light is usually in a particular frequency interval or band... s of stars recorded by the Kepler space telescope. |
| The Milky Way Project | Detecting bubbles in the interstellar medium Interstellar medium In astronomy, the interstellar medium is the matter that exists in the space between the star systems in a galaxy. This matter includes gas in ionic, atomic, and molecular form, dust, and cosmic rays. It fills interstellar space and blends smoothly into the surrounding intergalactic space... which indicate regions where the early stages of star formation are taking place. The project uses infrared images from the Spitzer space telescope Spitzer Space Telescope The Spitzer Space Telescope , formerly the Space Infrared Telescope Facility is an infrared space observatory launched in 2003... . |
| Ice Hunters | Identifying Kuiper belt Kuiper belt The Kuiper belt , sometimes called the Edgeworth–Kuiper belt, is a region of the Solar System beyond the planets extending from the orbit of Neptune to approximately 50 AU from the Sun. It is similar to the asteroid belt, although it is far larger—20 times as wide and 20 to 200 times as massive... objects (KBOs) for potential future targets for the New Horizons New Horizons New Horizons is a NASA robotic spacecraft mission currently en route to the dwarf planet Pluto. It is expected to be the first spacecraft to fly by and study Pluto and its moons, Charon, Nix, Hydra and S/2011 P 1. Its estimated arrival date at the Pluto-Charon system is July 14th, 2015... spacecraft. Also identifies variable stars and asteroids. It makes use of human review of subtracted images Image subtraction Image subtraction or pixel subtraction is a process whereby the digital numeric value of one pixel or whole image is subtracted from another image. This is primarily done for one of two reasons – levelling uneven sections of an image such as half an image having a shadow on it, or detecting changes... from various telescopes. |
| Ancient Lives | Transcribing Oxyrhynchus Papyri Oxyrhynchus Papyri The Oxyrhynchus Papyri are a very numerous group of manuscripts discovered by archaeologists including Bernard Pyne Grenfell and Arthur Surridge Hunt at an ancient rubbish dump near Oxyrhynchus in Egypt . The manuscripts date from the 1st to the 6th century AD. They include thousands of Greek and... . The papyri belong to the Egypt Exploration Society Egypt Exploration Society The Egypt Exploration Society is the foremost learned society in the United Kingdom promoting the field of Egyptology.... and their texts will eventually be published and numbered in Society's Greco-Roman Memoirs series. |