Film & Animation

Star Date: M83 A Citizen Science Project to Age Date Star Clusters

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For the first time, a citizen science program has been developed in concert with a Hubble Heritage image.

Star Date: M83, a joint project between the Space Telescope Science Institute and +The Zooniverse, will use citizen scientists to help uncover the ages of star clusters in the Southern Pinwheel Galaxy. Visit http://www.projectstardate.org/

Most of the billions of stars that reside in galaxies start their lives grouped together into clusters. In this activity, citizen scientists will do what humans can do better than computers: determine whether a cluster has hydrogen gas around it.

The basic idea is that it is possible to estimate the age of a star cluster based on its appearance and since humans are very good at seeing these sorts of details, participants will be helping STScI astronomers identify which of the clusters in the Southern Pinwheel Galaxy (M83) have clouds of hydrogen gas around it.

Please join +Tony Darnell  as he discusses the launch of this initiative and with astronomers from the Star Date: M83 team.  You’ll learn how to identify the clusters and whether there is a cloud around them along with their color.  This will give astronomers valuable information in helping determine the age of the cluster.