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![Citizen Science: Your Help Needed to Study Andromeda Galaxy
A group of astronomers is inviting the public to join their star-hunting team in a search of the bright Andromeda Galaxy.
The project aims to identify star clusters in our neighboring galaxy, also known as M31. All it takes to find the clusters in Andromeda is an Internet-enabled computer and a desire to help, said Anil Seth, the team’s lead investigator. “No special training is required,” he said.
The so-called “Andromeda Project,” which began Wednesday (Dec. 5), will generate the largest sample of clusters from a single spiral galaxy when it is completed.
Scientists expect the project could identify 2,500 new star clusters when finished. This would provide useful goalposts to chart how the galaxy, which is on a collision course with the Milky Way, formed and evolved.
“The general benefit is to better understand how spiral galaxies form,” said Seth, an assistant professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Utah.
“Andromeda is the nearest example of a [spiral] galaxy, except for the Milky Way,” he said. “We can study in detail things we can’t see in larger distances.”
Andromeda Project](http://25.media.tumblr.com/e77a0ad77d682f0f48554b161b180566/tumblr_metsfgMXhU1qbn5m1o1_500.jpg)
Citizen Science: Your Help Needed to Study Andromeda Galaxy
A group of astronomers is inviting the public to join their star-hunting team in a search of the bright Andromeda Galaxy.
The project aims to identify star clusters in our neighboring galaxy, also known as M31. All it takes to find the clusters in Andromeda is an Internet-enabled computer and a desire to help, said Anil Seth, the team’s lead investigator. “No special training is required,” he said.
The so-called “Andromeda Project,” which began Wednesday (Dec. 5), will generate the largest sample of clusters from a single spiral galaxy when it is completed.
Scientists expect the project could identify 2,500 new star clusters when finished. This would provide useful goalposts to chart how the galaxy, which is on a collision course with the Milky Way, formed and evolved.
“The general benefit is to better understand how spiral galaxies form,” said Seth, an assistant professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Utah.
“Andromeda is the nearest example of a [spiral] galaxy, except for the Milky Way,” he said. “We can study in detail things we can’t see in larger distances.”
Messier 63: The Sunflower Galaxy
This galaxy has received considerable notoriety recently due to the discovery of tidal tails, loops of debris, that are markers of an earlier collision or collisions of galaxies. The discovery was made by a collaboration of professionals and amateur astrophotographer, R. Jay Gabany.
Maia, Celaeno, Electra and Merope. The Pleiades.
Messier 74: The Perfect Spiral
M74 (also known as NGC 628) is a face-on spiral galaxy in the constellation Pisces. It is at a distance of about 32 million light-years away from Earth.
The galaxy contains two clearly defined spiral arms and is therefore used as an archetypal example of a Grand Design Spiral Galaxy. The galaxy’s low surface brightness makes it the most difficult Messier object for amateur astronomers to observe.
However, the relatively large angular size of the galaxy and the galaxy’s face-on orientation make it an ideal object for professional astronomers who want to study spiral arm structure and spiral density waves.
Barred Spiral Andromeda Galaxy
The image above shows the splendid Andromeda Galaxy (M 31), about 2.5 million light years away. Approximately 1 trillion stars shine in this barred spiral galaxy — perhaps 2 1/2 times the number in the Milky Way.
Don’t expect it to look this brilliant through a small telescope or a good pair of binoculars. Color and detail such as this result from long exposure times. M31 is the largest galaxy in the “local group” of more than 50 galaxies — the Milky Way is the second largest member. Image acquired on August 17, 2012.
NGC 206 and the Star Clouds of Andromeda
The large stellar association cataloged as NGC 206 is nestled within the dusty arms of neighboring spiral galaxy Andromeda (M31), 2.5 million light-years distant.
Seen near the center of this gorgeous close-up of the southwestern extent of Andromeda’s disk, the bright, blue stars of NGC 206 indicate its youth. Its youngest massive stars are less than 10 million years old.
Much larger than the clusters of young stars in the disk of our Milky Way galaxy known as open or galactic clusters, NGC 206 spans about 4,000 light-years. That’s comparable in size to the giant stellar nurseries NGC 604 in nearby spiral M33 and the Tarantula Nebula, in the Large Magellanic Cloud.
This image of the reflection nebula Messier 78 was captured using the Wide Field Imager camera on the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at the La Silla Observatory, Chile. This colour picture was created from many monochrome exposures taken through blue, yellow/green and red filters, supplemented by exposures through a filter that isolates light from glowing hydrogen gas.
