Galaxy Zoo - the project which harnesses the power of the internet - and your brain - to classify over a million galaxies.

Features:
> Database driven galaxy image analysis
> Account Registration
> Forum
> Classification statistics
> Save your favourite galaxies
> Lots more great features to follow in the coming months

The Project:
The project was the brainchild of brilliant astronomer Dr Chris Lintott [co-presenter along with Sir Patrick Moore, of The Sky at Night ]. Chris approached me in April 2007 and asked if I would be interested in designing the web site for the project which would serve up over 1,000,000 images of galaxies [taken by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey], which then could be analysed by anyone who signed up to do so. I had worked with Chris previously on the Bang Universe web site [along with Dr Brian May and Patrick Moore]. Galaxy Zoo founder, astronomer, and Sky at Night co-presenter, explained the aims of Galaxy Zoo 2 on BBC Breakfast .

Galaxy Zoo 1
The original Galaxy Zoo was launched in July 2007, with a data set made up of a million galaxies imaged with the robotic telescope of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. With so many galaxies, the team thought that it might take at least two years for visitors to the site to work through them all. Within 24 hours of launch, the site was receiving 70,000 classifications an hour, and more than 50 million classifications were received by the project during its first year, from almost 150,000 people.

FDM Input:
Fingerprint Digital Media was responsble for the visual web design, logo design and building HTML/CSS templates which were then integrated into a .NET framework by Dan Andrescu who was based at John Hopkins University, USA.

Galaxy Zoo 2
Galaxy Zoo 2 focuses on the nearest, brightest and most beautiful galaxies. In order to understand how these galaxies — and our own — formed, we need the ever growing band of zooites to help to classify them according to their shapes — a task at which the human brain is better than even the fastest computer.

"Many people commented that they enjoyed the addictive qualities of the Galaxy Zoo web site and the sheer thrill of looking at astoundingly beautiful galaxies online, from the comfort of their living rooms, while also contributing to real science." Philip Murray, Fingerprint Digital Media / Galaxy Zoo

FDM Input:
Again, Fingerprint Digital Media was responsible for the visual web design, logo design and building HTML/CSS templates which were then integrated into a Ruby on Rails framework by top software developer Arfon Smith, based at Oxford University, UK. Arfon is working full time on the Galaxy Zoo project. The exceptional Galaxy Zoo Team manage all aspects of the project including the site Blog and Forum as well as analysing all the data being generate rom the we site. You can read more about the Team here.

"We deliberately designed the visual elements of the Galaxy Zoo site to portray a 'game like' feel, to help make the whole experience of analysing galaxies fun, as well as providing real scientific data." Philip Murray - Fingerprint Digital Media/Galaxy Zoo

Press:
The project has attracted wide press coverage both online an from terrestial TV News stations. You can follow the press coverage on the Galaxy Zoo 2 web site.

The Future:
Galaxy Zoo continues to be a fascinating project to be involved with, a real internet success in many ways and a fine example of how designers and developers can colloborate effectively. There are many other projects planned in association with Galaxy Zoo in the coming months.

Philip Murray
Fingerprint Digital Media/Galaxy Zoo

 Visit Web Site: www.galaxyzoo.org