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galaxy zoo
2007-Dec-22, Saturday 11:53 amThere are plenty of science projects that let you donate cpu time on your computer for the processing of simulation studies. BOINC is the best-known software for doing this, in projects like SETI@home, Rosetta@home, and climateprediction.net. Those are the 3 that I donate cpu time for processing.
You can, however, donate your free time as a living person to help in some projects too. There are still some tasks too difficult for computer programs to handle well. One of those tasks is to look at an astronomy image and classify what you see there. Sounds easy enough, but the images tend to be very fuzzy and hard to fathom. In many cases, it is quite difficult to make a decision.
If you're curious, go through the tutorial webpage at Galaxy Zoo to try it out. They have a firm target for number of photos examined, with a progress bar. Once this first project is completed, they'll even include a "Thank You" webpage where you can choose the name that you want listed. (I went with "Mellow Tigger".) So secure your place in the annals of scientific history, and help out while you can. :)
You can, however, donate your free time as a living person to help in some projects too. There are still some tasks too difficult for computer programs to handle well. One of those tasks is to look at an astronomy image and classify what you see there. Sounds easy enough, but the images tend to be very fuzzy and hard to fathom. In many cases, it is quite difficult to make a decision.
If you're curious, go through the tutorial webpage at Galaxy Zoo to try it out. They have a firm target for number of photos examined, with a progress bar. Once this first project is completed, they'll even include a "Thank You" webpage where you can choose the name that you want listed. (I went with "Mellow Tigger".) So secure your place in the annals of scientific history, and help out while you can. :)