About one year ago the Redshift Wrangler project first asked you to help examine “spectra” of distant galaxies. These spectra are diagrams that show how much light we receive from them as a function of wavelength. 

“Since launching on May 30, 2023, we have reached almost 2,000 volunteers joining our project.” said Coffin.  “Together we have made over 143,000 measurements on 11,100 galaxy spectra!”

When you join Redshift Wrangler on Zooniverse, you learn about how astronomers use these spectra to look back in time. These data help reveal the rate at which the galaxies are forming stars, what their chemical compositions are, and how their central supermassive black holes behave. The goal is to assemble a timeline of galaxy formation. There’s still much more wrangling to do!

“We’re continuing to prepare new, exciting data for Redshift Wrangler,” said Coffin. “You can expect better resolution data coming in the next round, and you can look forward to seeing spectra from space telescopes like the Webb Space Telescope in the future as well!”

So come help make the project’s second year an even bigger success at https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/jeyhansk/redshift-wrangler.  No lasso necessary!

This work is also supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF).