I’m ‘spamming’ on my own site now. Well, kind of. This is a shameless commercial advertising piece in any case. It is for a good cause though. The Zoo of galaxies is still growing, but the more people hearing about it, the better.
So now I’m announcing that Galaxy Zoo’s very own shop is online! It actually opened its virtual doors a few weeks ago and I meant to write sooner about the T-shirt I ordered, but I have been busy spreading ‘the word’ in other places as well. There was a phone interview with the New York Times, I’m currently also answering an e-mail interview for a magazine in Ireland and I’m going to meet another journalist next week for ‘Didactief’ (a Dutch magazine). But most of my attention was spent on a big event I’m attending soon.
Because 2009 is the ‘International Year of Astronomy’, the biggest science centre in the Netherlands – NEMO in Amsterdam – will host an event called: “Let the stars seduce you.” The people of ASTRON asked me to participate and represent Galaxy Zoo there, because this project makes it easy for people to get involved in astronomy.
Needless to say I’m very excited about this. With some help from Phil Murray (excellent designer of Galaxy Zoo’s logo and website!) and Graham Bowes (responsible for the logo on my website), I created a Galaxy Zoo Poster. I also made cards with examples of the galaxies you need to classify on the Galaxy Zoo site. And Chris came up with the good idea to automatically create and print ‘some’ (they expect 6000-8000 visitors in total) login codes, for me to hand out to people. That way you can start classifying at the event right away, without having to login to your e-mail account for verification first. Also, you don’t need to read the tutorial, I’m there to explain and help.
Would you like to meet me then and try? Do you want to find out what a star sounds like? Or what planet Mars looks like? This and lots of other interesting science related activities will happen in NEMO next weekend, the 4th and 5th of April. I’m travelling to Amsterdam Friday evening and will be at the event on Saturday and Sunday from 10.00am till 17.00pm. It’s free and a lot of fun for all ages!
So come and visit me. I’ll probably be somewhere near this poster below. Oh and all profits gained from the Galaxy Zoo Shop’s merchandise will be used to support the work in the Zoo. And here’s my contribution to that as well…
7 Comments
Sounds like huge fun! Wish I could be there but won’t be able to make it. Have a great time and spread the word to lots of new classifiers.
Nice T-shirt!
(Mine’s red)
Thanks Jules! Here’s to next time then. We can wear our shirts.
Great work from our Dutch Galaxy Zoo Ambassador
I’ll see you there, Hanny.
Whoops, I mean to compliment you on the poster, too……..
Great poster
Heh, thanks Tommy (and Graham!) and see you there!
Yep, very soon
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[...] Remember it was ‘museum weekend’ last year around this time? It was in fact the same weekend of the ‘100 hours of astronomy’. And I was asked to represent Galaxy Zoo at science center NEMO in Amsterdam. Since it was a huge success, I said ‘yes’ when I was asked to participate again. [...]