Galaxy Zoo Talk

Anomaly in a Galaxy?

  • Lisaoo by Lisaoo

    Noticed that I Had gotten the same exact galaxy twice, only the second time around theres something odd.

    Any idea of what it might be? I faved the first one and heres the two compared: http://i.imgur.com/BUjWGEZ.jpg

    Posted

  • KWillett by KWillett scientist, admin, translator

    Nice spot, Lisaoo!

    So these are simulated images of galaxies, which is letting the science team experiment on a number of things that we can't do with real galaxies. One thing we're studying is the effect of background objects in the sky (other stars, galaxies, etc) on visual morphologies. We want to know if nearby objects change the classification in some way - if so, then we need to try and correct this in the Galaxy Zoo data.

    The Illustris galaxies currently in GZ actually show up multiple times - we show the exact same galaxy, but against four different backgrounds. We're analyzing the classifications of these different images to see how (if at all) changing the background affects the data. The difference between the two images that you've done is due to a couple of bright foreground stars showing up in the second image (one which appears green and the other red). Hopefully you classified the shape of the galaxy as the same way each time.

    The fact that you saw the same galaxy twice in a row is a coincidence (it doesn't happen often), but it's a nice spot. Let us know if you have more questions, and thanks!

    Posted