Help NASA analyze photos of light pollution

Rucking_Fetard

Astronauts on the International Space Station zoom over the surface of the Earth at roughly 17,150 miles per hour, a blisteringly fast pace. They see the sun rise every 92 minutes. All this high-speed, high vantage point travel makes for some great photos and videos. But those images are more than souvenirs—they give scientists information about ecosystems, weather, climate change, and more.



Now you too can get in on the game and help NASA analyze astronaut photos of the Earth at night. Citizen scientists, rally!


The Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth hosts a fantastic number of images from space starting with the Mercury mission images from the 1960s to images snapped recently from the ISS. “The catalog contains more than 1.8 million photos, about 1.3 million of them from the space station and roughly 30% of them taken at night,” according to CNN.
Categorizing all those images is such a big task that researchers are calling for our help.


“Anyone can help,” says Alejandro Sanchez, a Ph.D. student at the Complutense University of Madrid, in a press release. “In fact, without the help of citizens, it is almost impossible to use these images scientifically. Algorithms cannot distinguish between stars, cities, and other objects, such as the moon. Humans are much more efficient for complex image analysis.”

Aspiring citizen scientists can contribute to three programs: Dark Skies of ISS, Night Cities, and Lost at Night.

http://www.dailydot.com/geek/nasa-analyze-photos-light-pollution/