Greetings Galaxy Zoo Fans,


We're excited to announce the launch of a new 'mini' project called Galaxy Zoo Quench, involving new images of 6,004 galaxies drawn from the original Galaxy Zoo. You're welcome to just classify as always, but this project is special. We hope to take citizen science to the next level by providing the opportunity to take part in the entire scientific process – everything from classifying galaxies to analyzing results to collaborating with astronomers to writing a scientific article!


Galaxy Zoo Quench will examine a sample of galaxies that have recently and abruptly quenched their star formation. These galaxies are aptly named Post-Quenched Galaxies. They provide an ideal laboratory for studying galaxy evolution.


The entire process of classifying, analyzing, discussing, and writing the article will take place over an ~8-12 week period, beginning today! After classifying the galaxies, Quench volunteers can use tools.zooniverse.org to plot the data and look for trends. We'll also have a special Quench Talk (http://quenchtalk.galaxyzoo.org) forum to discuss and identify key results to include in the paper. (The regular Galaxy Zoo will continue as normal.)


We hope you'll join us as we try out a new kind of citizen science project. To learn more visit http://quench.galaxyzoo.org. Have questions about the project? Ask us on Twitter (@galaxyzoo) or Facebook (facebook.com/thegalaxyzoo).


Thanks,


Laura and the Galaxy Zoo Team


PS We're holding a poll on our favourite Galaxy Zoo objects for the Autumn cover of 'Astronomy and Geophysics' - cast your vote on the blog athttp://blog.galaxyzoo.org/2013/07/17/vote-for-the-cover-image-of-october-astronomy-and-geophysics/