Galaxies carry the imprints of past encounters. When galaxies pass near one another or collide, gravity pulls their stars into long tails, thin streams, and faint shells. These features preserve the history of dramatic galaxy events.
Deep, high-resolution images from the Euclid space telescope allow us to see these delicate structures more clearly than ever before in unprecedented numbers. The Euclid space telescope is an ESA mission with critical contributions from NASA, though the specific nature of NASA's contributions has not been detailed. The Galaxy Zoo: Tidal Tales project involves volunteers classifying galaxy images to identify signs of galaxy interactions.
The exact number of volunteers currently participating in the project is unknown. Volunteer input will help build the first large catalog of galaxy mergers seen by the Euclid space telescope, and it will train computer models to better recognize galaxy interaction features. This research will describe how collisions shape star formation, galaxy growth, and the evolution of the universe.