. . . over at Galaxy Zoo have some six hundred suggestions from me on various galaxies and whether they show rings, are merging with each other and so forth as part of an international effort to have amateurs be part of the screening process. I haven’t been there much this year but got a little note about a new hush-hush programme which I tried to join though the coding needs a little bit of brushing up. From what I have seen of it, it looks fascinating but I am not allowed to tell you anything more as the email said they are keeping it on ice until the end of this month.
However as a general idea I think involving the world in projects like this is marvelous. No matter what your educational background if you have an interest you can get involved. I think that not only serves the purposes of life-long learning, but engages the public in practical science. In much the same way as the project to watch the seasons and chart the times of first flowering in the UK has shown a change in weather patterns over the past twenty years.
I will never crack a theory or write the answer to an equation, but I feel closer to those who do using my eyes to help their work.