An astronomer from the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) is leading a global study to help find holes in dust clouds.
Professor Derek Ward-Thompson has been joined by astronomers who use Europe’s Herschel Space Observatory and they are asking the public to help find holes in the dust clouds that are threaded through our galaxy.
By looking at the images from Herschel, combined with those from NASA’s Spitzer satellite, members of the public are invited to join the science effort by helping to distinguish between dense clumps of cold dust and holes in the dusty clouds that are threaded through our galaxy.
Dust clouds don’t come in simple shapes, and so the process of distinguishing between dark clouds and holes is incredibly difficult to do. Luckily, the ideal tool is at hand: the human eye.
Further details can be found on the University’s press release