Galaxy Zoo available in Portuguese

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

The Portuguese platform has been available since early April and was translated and adapted by the Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of Lisbon. It allows more than 250 million people from Portuguese-speaking countries to contribute to research on 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 the CAAUL Scientific Mediation Office and coordinator of the translation and adaptation of Galaxy Zoo into Portuguese, emphasized the importance of public participation in processing data of this magnitude. "Computers are often used to assist in this process, but the human brain remains more efficient at identifying and distinguishing patterns. The involvement of a large number of volunteers in this task greatly reduces its duration, produces more accurate results, and also allows them to learn more about the Universe in the process."

From a scientific point of view, Galaxy Zoo emphasizes that the shape of a galaxy reveals a lot about its history. The information classified in this project has already served as the basis for dozens of astronomy articles, supporting the international scientific community in the creation of new knowledge.