This stunning image of two spiral galaxies that appear to be overlapping in the sky was acquired by the Hubble Space Telescope. The two galaxies in the photograph, SDSS J115331 and LEDA 2073461, are located more than a billion light-years from Earth.
Even though it appears that both galaxies are merging in the image, Hubble has determined that the two galaxies are merely aligned and not actually interacting. The highlights from the space agency’s Galaxy Zoo project served as the basis for this image of two distant spiral galaxies that appear to be overlapping.
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The Galaxy Zoo project, which was started in 2007, is a significant citizen science endeavour that crowdsources galaxy classifications from thousands of participants. These volunteers use photos captured by robotic telescopes to categorise galaxies. They aid researchers in sifting through the massive volumes of data produced by these telescopes.
Before Hubble performs additional observations, the most intriguing astronomical objects from the Galaxy Zoo project are placed to a vote by the general audience. These chosen astronomical objects included SDSS J115331 and LEDA 2073461.
Since its inception, the initiative has helped to classify more than 40 million galaxies and over 100 peer-reviewed scientific studies. The Zooniverse portal, which includes other comparable projects using similar methods to assist scientists across various domains in astronomy, was also motivated by the success of the Galaxy Zoo project.
Each galaxy in the Galaxy Zoo project is assigned a categorization by numerous participants so that scientists can evaluate the reliability of the data. The classifications offered by the project are subsequently used by scientists to assign valuable telescope time in accordance with their research needs.
