Galaxies carry the imprints of past encounters. When they pass near one another or collide, gravity pulls their stars into long tails, thin streams, and faint shells – features that preserve the history of these dramatic events. Thanks to deep, high-resolution images from the Euclid space telescope, an ESA (European Space Agency) mission with critical contributions from NASA, we can now see these delicate structures more clearly than ever before in unprecedented numbers.
As a volunteer for the Galaxy Zoo: Tidal Tales project, you’ll help identify these signs of galaxy interactions. By classifying galaxy images, you’ll help build the first large catalog of galaxy mergers seen by the Euclid space telescope. Your input will also train computer models to better recognize these features and describe how collisions shape star formation, galaxy growth, and the evolution of the universe.
Want to help astronomers trace how galaxy collisions reshape the universe over time? Join Galaxy Zoo: Tidal Tales on Zooniverse today!
Euclid’s view of the Dorado group of galaxies shows signs of galaxies interacting and merging. The shells of hazy white and yellow material, as well as curving “tails” extending into space, are evidence of gravitational interaction between the galaxies. Join Galaxy Zoo: Tidal Tales and help identify structures like these in images from ESA’s Euclid space telescope!
ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA, image processing by J.-C. Cuillandre (CEA Paris-Saclay), G. Anselmi; CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO or ESA Standard License
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Galaxy Zoo: Tidal Tales
Help read the story of galactic encounters in galaxy shapes. For anyone with a smartphone or laptop.
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