Scientific Colloquium
March 15, 2013


"The Milky Way Project: Citizen Scientists Map Massive Star Formation Throughout the Galaxy"

Since December 2010, tens of thousands of volunteer "citizen scientists" have logged onto the Milky Way Project (MWP) website (www.milkywayproject.org) to assist an international team of professional researchers in classifying the myriad astrophysical structures found in infrared survey images of the Galaxy. The complex, multiwavelength morphologies apparent in these images pose a pattern-recognition problem that the human eye-brain combination can solve more easily and reliably than currently-available machine algorithms. In its first iteration the MWP cataloged over 5000 infrared "bubbles" in the inner Galaxy. The bubbles are ring- or shell-like structures associated primarily with H II regions, expanding the known sample of these objects by nearly an order of magnitude. Correlation of the bubbles with massive young stellar objects and (ultra)compact H II regions that a significant fraction of massive star formation may be triggered by feedback from H II regions. More detailed studies of the MWP bubbles are underway, along with studies of other objects identified by MWP volunteers, including star clusters and background galaxies in the zone of avoidance. The newest version of the MWP, "Clouds," asks volunteers to classify infrared bright versus dark clouds by comparing images from Spitzer and Herschel, with a goal of producing a more reliable Galactic catalog of massive, cold molecular clouds. The MWP provides a clearer picture of the spatial distribution of massive star formation throughout the Galaxy, and helps point the way toward a more comprehensive understanding of the massive star life cycles and feedback processes that govern Galactic evolution. More broadly, the MWP and other offerings in the popular Zooniverse series of online citizen science projects provide a critical pathway for engaging and educating the public in forefront scientific research.
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