Shape matters in black hole growth January 31, 2010
Posted by sarah in: astronomy, new astronomy . 2comments
Fig. 1 (from Schawinski et al., 2010)
Active galaxies have gone by many names: active galactic nuclei, quasars, QSOs, Seyfert galaxies, radio galaxies. Astronomers used to think these were all distinct types of objects, unified by the observation of large amounts of energy emerging from a compact region at the centre of the galaxy. These days, despite a great variety in observational characteristics, active galaxies’ engines are generally thought to be driven by a single mechanism, the accretion of material onto a supermassive central black hole.
In a paper published to the Arxiv last week, Kevin Schawinski and collaborators have used Galaxy Zoo classifications of local Universe galaxies to show that active elliptical galaxies are markedly different from those with a more disk-like or spiral shapes, adding morphology as an additional factor to consider in our model of active galaxies.
The Zooniverse December 13, 2009
Posted by sarah in: astro 2.0, astronomy . 1 comment so far
Today saw the launch of the Zooniverse, home for the growing number of Zoo projects that have spawned from the success of Galaxy Zoo. The site contains info on all the projects, how to join, where to go for more info, and how to get new projects into the Zoo.
The Zooniverse project is run and maintained by the Citizen Science Alliance, whose new website also launched today.
Congrats to Chris, Arfon, Pamela and all the other Zookeepers for a great job on all these projects! Extra points for getting a Mighty Boosh reference into an astronomy project.
.Astronomy Day 1: Citizen Science November 30, 2009
Posted by sarah in: astro 2.0, dotastronomy . 3comments
Merge galaxies with the new Galaxy Zoo merger project
Day 1 of .Astronomy is behind us and I think everyone is pleased with how it went. As organiser I was particularly happy that there weren’t any technical glitches, and the Unconference sessions sorted themselves out very nicely. The theme of the day was Citizen Science. Several projects have shown how keen non-professionals are to be involved in science, and how scientists themselves can benefit from the citizens’ active participation.
IAU: The singular future of astronomy August 18, 2009
Posted by sarah in: astro 2.0, astronomy, dotastronomy, science . Add a comment
The Hubble Deep Field
For many centuries, astronomy has been a powerful inspirational force driving people to look further, build bigger, go deeper. Indeed, other physical sciences, mathematics and engineering have benefited greatly, and continue to benefit, from astronomical research. At the IAU general assembly I heard many speakers comment on the “Golden Age” of astronomy we currently finding ourselves in. But as one speaker argued, when was astronomy not in a Golden Age? An entire 4-day session at the GA was devoted to the topic “Accelerating the rate of astronomical discovery”, which had some fascinating talks about the way astronomical discoveries are made and how technological changes underpin progress in astronomy.
An important theme running through many talks in the session was the power of the individual in astronomy. The balance between the individual and the crowd has always been a delicate one. Many early scientists faced disbelief or even wrath from peers and society for their discoveries, from Copernicus‘ “heretic” claims of a heliocentric universe to the initial rejection of Saha’s equation of ionisation equilibrium by the 1920’s scientific establishment. Several talks were love stories to the mavericks whose doggedness, eccentricity and creativity changed the face of astronomy, culminating in Dame Jocelyn Bell-Burnell’s wonderful own account of her discovery of the first pulsars in the 1960s.
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It's all happening at the 'Zoo February 17, 2009
Posted by sarah in: science . 2comments
Someone told me
It’s all happening at the Zoo.
