- Galaxy Zoo Supernovae is a
project
- ...just like
project
A: The automatic PTF will find us plenty of candidates, but that doesn't mean that everything it finds will be a supernova. Even the best camera and analysis system will make mistakes, and objects like asteroids will get in the way and confuse us. The best way to make the selection is to review candidates by eye — and that's where you come in.
A: In order for us to be successful, we need a survey that can cover galaxies very quickly. Rather than spending time getting a pretty picture, PTF takes the minimum depth image required to capture a supernova and moves on. This trade off between image quality and the number of galaxies you can get through is just something we have to live with.
A: The first step is to get confirmation of the discovery. We're currently using a mix of old and new data, both of which are useful for science but only some of which might lead to a confirmable discovery. If we can get confirmation, we'll do that for you — the first step is to take any object that has been marked as a supernova and quickly show it to many other Zooites. Our team at the WHT will follow as many highly ranked candidates as they can — keep your fingers crossed for clear skies. If we're successful, we'll make sure that those that spotted it get the appropriate credit.
A: It is not possible to redo a classification, as we want each one to be independent. Allowing classifications to be replaced would open up the possibility of classifiers discussing objects and changing their classifications to agree with one another. This would reduce our ability to understand the uncertainties on the classifications. However, don't worry about our final results: each candidate will have been looked at by many people, so on average the classification is likely to be correct, and occasional mistakes don't matter.
A: We show multiple people the same images so that a mistake shouldn't matter too much. Just relax and give it your best shot.
We'll be taking down the site for a short period so we can review how things went and tweak a few knobs behind the scenes. The PTF is just getting started, and we hope to make Zooite classification a regular part of how they handle their data. In the meantime, you could always classify a few galaxies over here.
Keep an eye on the Galaxy Zoo Blog for all the updates.
This is a first attempt at a Galaxy Zoo Supernova Hunt; we'll add more features as the site expands. We also need to be careful that you (and our friends at PTF) get the credit you deserve; publishing the full coordinates of a galaxy straight away would allow other astronomers to get ahead of us.
A: This is a fluke of the way the images are produced; the reference image is the result of adding several normal images together, so fainter objects will appear here. We take this into account when creating the subtraction image, so that only true changes show up.
A: The PTF telescope on Palomar Mountain has been affected by the recent forest fires in Southern California. The telescope is fine, but ash from the fires is hanging in the air and it's very important it doesn't get on the mirror. Instead, we're using our WHT time to do a systematic survey of older candidates, which will lead to us being able to work out the rate.
A: Other observers will be heading to other telescopes. Whenever there's a need for observations, we'll call on Galaxy Zoo volunteers to help.