Chris Lintott’s Universe

Just a very brief update on Galaxy Zoo. We’ve reached our target of more than 30,000 users and have just upgraded the hardware behind the site to make sure we can cope with as many people as once. We’re hoping to get a couple of new features up on the site in the next 24 hours, and first priority is a discussion forum so people can compare images.

We’ve just been mentioned on slash dot so please bear with us during the tsunami of traffic currently heading our way. If the site goes down again then I’ll try and post updates here and if you’re into that sort of thing, there’s a Galaxy Zoo group on facebook.

Today’s pretty image is a ring galaxy – if you see one of these, we want to know about it.

I’ve been absolutely stunned by the initial reaction to Galaxy Zoo; so many emails with so many fantastic images. Perhaps my favourite, found by beccamecca13 whoever she (or he) may be, is below, but there’s lots more where that came from. We’re on BBC News and if your hands strayed toward the ‘email your friends’ button let’s just say that would be appreciated.

Update: We’re being slightly swamped. Please keep telling people about the site, but bear with us if you can’t see any galaxies. We’ll upgrade as soon as possible.

I do believe it’s true…Galaxy Zoo will be going live in less than a week. We need your help to sort through the million or so galaxies imaged by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. No experience is required, and you get to be literally the first person to set eyes on part sof the Universe which surrounds us. If you sign up now you might just get a sneak preview.

Update: The Galaxy Zoo is now open for business. No giraffes, though.

I thought you might want to be the first to see my new research project. We need your help!