Galaxy Zoo available in Portuguese

Galaxy Zoo is an international astronomy project that makes photographs of millions of galaxies taken by the world's largest telescopes available on an online platform. Visitors can take part in the project by identifying the shape of the galaxy represented in the image, according to the categories presented by the site. Started in 2007, the project is now in its fourth edition and has enabled more than 1.5 million galaxies to be classified. 

The Portuguese platform has been available since the beginning of April and its translation and adaptation was carried out by the Astronomy and Astrophysics Center of the University of Lisbon. It thus allows more than 250 million people in Portuguese-speaking countries to contribute to research into the evolution of the Universe in Portuguese without language barriers, while also promoting accessibility to scientific content in Portuguese. 

In a press release, João Retrê, director of CAAUL's Science Mediation Office and coordinator of the translation and adaptation of Galaxy Zoo into Portuguese, stressed the importance of public participation in processing data of this scale. "Computers are often used to assist in this process, but the human brain is still more efficient at identifying and distinguishing patterns. Involving a large number of volunteers in this task greatly reduces its duration, produces more accurate results and allows them to learn more about the Universe in the process."

From a scientific point of view, Galaxy Zoo points out that the shape of a galaxy allows us to learn a lot about its history. The information classified in this project has already formed the basis of dozens of astronomy articles, supporting the international scientific community in the creation of new knowledge.