From today, armchair astronomers will be able to indulge in interplanetary exploration without taking their eyes off the computer screen.
Anyone with a web connection can visit the Galaxy Zoo and help scientists to investigate the structure of the universe.
The amateur recruits will look at images of a million galaxies and sort them into two basic types – spiral galaxies, like the Milky Way, and elliptical galaxies, which appear as a solid, oval-shaped mass of stars.
The results will be collated by a team of astronomers from Oxford University, Portsmouth University and Johns Hopkins University in the United States.
Kevin Schawinski, a member of Oxford University’s astrophysics department, said that using a large group of volunteers was still the most efficient way of completing the task.
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“The human brain is actually better than a computer at pattern-recognition tasks like this,” he said. “Whether you spend five minutes, 15 minutes or five hours using the site your contribution will be invaluable.”
A spokesman for Oxford University said that astronomers hope the census will reveal the distribution of galaxies throughout the universe, helping to confirm existing models of the universe or revealing flaws within them.
Visitors to the website can read a brief tutorial on galaxy identification before classifying the images, many of which have never been examined before, using a simple tick-box feedback form. Visitors will also be able to print out posters of the galaxies they have explored.
Sir Patrick Moore has already signed up for the project, which he said was in the great tradition of astronomy. “Non-professionals have always been deeply involved in studying the sky and they now have yet another opportunity to make themselves really useful,” he said. “Their help is now of immense value.”
The images were taken using the Sloan Digital Sky Survey telescope in New Mexico, which uses a 142-megapixel digital camera to chart the universe. When its survey is completed in June next year, it will have created a three-dimensional map of about a million galaxies and quasars.