Asteroid Zoo Talk

Suggestion to improve user experience

  • escholzia by escholzia

    Please consider allowing multiple artifacts to be marked in a slide without clicking the Done button between each one. There are often 2-3 per slide, and it's a lot of clicks.

    Posted

  • wreness by wreness

    It would also be nice if there was a way to press a key and take our marks off the screen temporarily. . When you mark the frames the marks often cover what you want to see in the next frame and get in the way. If the asteroid is really light or tiny it makes it impossible to what you want to mark

    Posted

  • peter_vince by peter_vince

    After pressing finish and being taken to the summary screen, I have occasionally been told there was a known asteroid that I didn't spot. It would be nice to be able to go back to the images to to re-check them - with your green circle highlight. Maybe even an agree/disagree option. And how are they already "known" - have other people spotted them, or is that information from other surveys, and projections of where the known object should be in these images?

    Posted

  • TED91 by TED91

    Could be possible to add the image coordinates (RA, DEC) or WISE ID or other ID below the image in talk page? Like in Disk Detective for example.

    http://talk.diskdetective.org/#/subjects/AWI0005e72

    Posted

  • shocko61 by shocko61

    Hi everyone ,Ian shocko61 , first time here , do I need to mark all of the four images with artifacts or just the first one for each of the new images where applicable . Cheers Ian

    Posted

  • shocko61 by shocko61

    I love the site . one thing how do I get an image here to discuss . Ian

    Posted

  • scibuff by scibuff

    I'd welcome the option to tag images without having to navigate to the image "talk" page, i.e. right there at the finish screen before I click "next subject"

    Posted

  • N5bz by N5bz in response to escholzia's comment.

    I agree completely. I just posted a couple of similar comments in another area here before I found this one.
    I suggested hot keys for the various 'button functions' (I hate to use my mouse for anything but to select a point in an image!) and making the form of marking 'latch' to that form until changed, and do away with the stupid 'done' , just click to select and right click to un-select.

    Posted

  • peter_vince by peter_vince

    I love the fast colour-rotation option - makes movement really jump out for me. Might it be possible to (have an option to) speed up the "ordinary" monochrome cycling to a similarly much faster rate please?

    Posted

  • calin_uio by calin_uio

    Image Information
    I would like to know more about the patch of the sky that is observed, to which Catalina Sky Survey do the images belong to, things like when were the pictures taken and how big is the field of view.

    Software
    I'm surprised how few detections were possible until now, wondering what is the detection rate for the software used to process the data and how does it compare to human input. Some frames are stabilized, some aren't and could be hopefully software stabilized to ease the volunteer work. The broken frames could be eventually pre-filtered and not shown online, very few contain something useful.

    Data
    For the ones interested in machine learning the data behind is apparently available here: http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/css/index.html

    Posted

  • scibuff by scibuff

    For the RA/DEC http://astrometry.net/ should be able to plate solve the png;s. If you plate solve a png with a known asteroid and get a good RA/Dec estimate, you can use MPC's ephemerides tools to find when that asteroid was supposed to be at those coordinates. It is should accurate enough to pin point the date to maybe +/- a few hours

    Posted

  • Ohsin by Ohsin

    "Finish" button should be "Nothing" button by default and when you mark artifacts or asteroids or click "Nothing" then it should become "Finish" button.It would save mouse move time from going nothing to finish which is most often the case šŸ˜ƒ

    Posted

  • Freethesouls by Freethesouls

    If we discover a new asteroid do we get to name it?

    Tom

    Posted

  • Cpt._Pete by Cpt._Pete

    Having 4 "hide" buttons below the frame numbers.
    so if frame 3 is jumping or whited out just press the button and you flick between 1,2 & 4 instead
    Also if you find a bearly moving Asteroid, just use frames 1 & 4 to see if it jumps

    Posted

  • Devilstower by Devilstower

    I've put this in another discussion, but I'd also like to put it here:

    Please let us back up and revisit the image we just submitted. I clicked "nothing" on an image, and was then told I had missed a known asteroid. This could be a great learning example, except it won't allow me to back up and see what it was I missed.

    Posted

  • ghewson by ghewson in response to Devilstower's comment.

    I too was told there was a known asteroid, circled in green... but I didn't see any green circle on the thumbnail in the Subject Summary!

    Posted

  • ghewson by ghewson

    Please allow switching between images using the keyboard after pausing the automatic cycling, using the numeric keys and/or the arrow keys. This would be much less distracting than moving the mouse and clicking while trying to maintain focus on the object of interest.

    Posted

  • scibuff by scibuff in response to Freethesouls's comment.

    If you find a new asteroid, it will need to be observed on 2 and 2 nights during least 3-4 oppositions (~1.5 years each) before it can receive a permanent designation (a number), after which it can be named.

    The CSS observer will be listed as the discoverer, for years MPC has not been accepting name suggestions for asteroids discovered by folks participating in asteroid search programs - this has changed after NEAT discoveries through SkyMorph in ~2008/2009 IIRC. You may be able to suggest a name to the CSS staff who may accept it and forward it to MPC and IAU

    Posted

  • ikbenharm by ikbenharm

    make a commercial and make it in the style of
    where's waldo?
    but then for the more experienced audience
    šŸ˜ƒ

    Posted

  • nadirt by nadirt in response to scibuff's comment.

    Very interesting ! We spend our time here to find new objects, but all glory will go to someone else. šŸ˜ƒ

    Posted

  • TheNAkos by TheNAkos

    Keyboard shortcuts would be cool. It happened not once that I thought I see something I looked at buttons and I lost the the moving pixels. By pressing "A" for asteroid would be cool. This way I could keep my eye on the images. Also when I turn Asteroid on it would be cool if it would stay on the frame I am at that moment.

    Posted

  • Almatheo by Almatheo

    Great ideas so far, really great idea for a site.

    But I get a blank field, just completely black, and then when I click on the colour cycle button I can see the stars etc. OK so far, but then I see something of interest and I click on ā€˜artifactā€™. It then says to click in the field of view, but I canā€™t place a marker unless I click on the colour cycle again, and then I just get a blank field of view with a marker and canā€™t see the artifact I want to highlight!

    The discussion areas could be friendlier for the first time user. I don't know who else will see this post, for example. And I can't see a button that says 'start a discussion', 'or give feedback about the site', or 'got a problem' or somesuch option.

    Also, I go to the ā€˜discussā€™ button at the top, which takes me to a page which doesnā€™t recognise that I might be a new user, and keeps asking me to sign in, thereā€™s no option to sign up, not on that page.

    On the ā€˜discussā€™ front page thereā€™s no option to search for anything within the discussion boards

    Iā€™m using a Mac OS X 10.6.8 with Safari

    Hope someone can help!

    Posted

  • 24launch by 24launch

    Please give us the ability to fine-adjust the alignment of the images perhaps with the keyboard arrow keys in very VERY fine increments. You could let the first frame be the key frame and allow us to adjust the other 3. Some jump around a lot and it makes finding a moving object nearly impossible. If we could minimize the movement of the entire page I think it would help make any moving objects pop out much more easily.

    Also I think there could be benefit to allowing us to stack the 4 images and selectively hide them. Again I think it might make it easier to notice a moving object.

    Wayne in Phx

    Posted

  • Cpt._Pete by Cpt._Pete

    Change the border colour when searching , white is a slight strain on the eyes when staring at something black

    Posted

  • Ptd by Ptd

    I originally posted the below in another thread before I found this one:

    Is the patch of sky we are looking at the right size?
    I find myself trying to methodically work my way around the images, and seeing as I do this manually I undoubted miss bits. Someone somewhere probably knows what the maximum size of image the mark one eyeball can actually properly study in one go is. Given my experiences of the last few evenings on this site, I suspect its not much more than an inch square. Or do some asteroids cross so much sky that if the angular sizes of the images was reduced, we'd miss them?

    +1 to the suggestion for being able to hide a bad image and look at the other three.
    +1 to the suggestion for being able to fine tune the alignment of the images.
    +1 to the suggestion to be able to turn the little blue circles on and off, they often make trying to mark the asteroid in the other images harder.

    Posted

  • Almatheo by Almatheo

    This is definitely not a user-friendly site, even less for the first time user. It seems to be technology-led rather than user-oriented which is such a shame. The instructions should be something like this, with the simple picture in the middle and much less clutter (the screen at the moment looks like a scientist's desk with everything in plain view!). 1. Take a look at this rapidly toggling sequence of pictures [and obviously the picture should actually be there, not a black square like the one I get!], and if anything appears to be shimmering or changing position please click on it. 2. [on clicking the picture doesn't disappear, and a small arrow or similar flashes on the screen] Can you see any more? Please click, or click 'Next' to see another picture. if you want to change the way you view things click here [ and then explain how to toggle etc]. I really don't understand why it can't be this simple. There's no point whatsoever for the user to have to distinguish between an asteroid (the whole point of the site) and an artifact (a purely optical effect which is obvious and has no relevance).

    Posted

  • meegja by meegja

    These were my suggestions I mailed to Zooniverse few days ago since there is no contact option to Asteroid Zoo. Some of these were also mentioned here already:

    • Make the artifact marking easier. 98% of the action is marking of artifacts. It would be way easier to mark them in all the frames and then press the Done button instead of the 3-click-action-for-each-artifact as it is now.
    • A grid that can be toggled on and off. Something like 5 x 5 and then a thin line.
    • Choice between Play speed. A lot of times itā€™s way easier when the frames are played faster. So a Normal and Fast choice would be an option.
    • Also save the Inverted/negative shoots with a favorite. Working in Invert/favorite is done by a lot of people because it shows way more ā€œdataā€. Data that is not vissible in the normal/positive view.


      A numbered/alphabet grid would also be a good idea in the Favorite images. Way easier to say: "Look in B3" the to say "Upper left corner just below the bright star on the left in that quadrant" šŸ˜ƒ

    Posted

  • Chipuk by Chipuk

    What about displaying after you have classified what other people have found. This should improve our quality as if we are missing artefacts or asteroids then we can go back and do a further analysis on the subject.

    Posted

  • dudrea by dudrea

    +1 for easier artifact marking ! Really I stopped marking them. Too lonf and wasting time.
    +1 for removing little blue circle

    +1 also for displaying after you have classified what other people have found after classiffying

    In fact could be a lot of ergonomy progress šŸ˜‰

    Posted

  • jaroslavp by jaroslavp

    It would be good for Discussion if there was a Grid you could turn on so you could tell others where you see asteroid.
    It would relly help to have hot keys for moving between frames.

    Posted

  • Morfeo by Morfeo

    I really miss counter marked unknown asteroids.
    (I think that is the main objective of the program.)
    Something like that:
    Has currently scored 3 unknown Asteroids!
    and of course someone who can certificate validity or simply deny that it is an asteroid (ej: with states)
    Orange: pending revision
    Green: unknown asteroid confirmed.
    Red: is not an asteroid and is deducted from the counter
    In addition to this you can classify more expert users.

    Posted

  • Almatheo by Almatheo

    I give up! Either my Mac is too stupid to get the graphics sorted, or I'm missing something really obvious, or the instructions and graphics are simply unhelpful. A Youtube 'how to' video would be great. Also, some response from the people operating this website would be welcome, I see no response at all to any of the very good suggestions other users have made. I'll come back in a few weeks to see if it's improved.

    Posted

  • Emili_Sancha by Emili_Sancha

    Edit/delete/modify marks (asteroid-artifact)

    Edit/delete favorites/collections/comments

    Posted

  • dudrea by dudrea

    I believe I'll do the same (Give Up)

    No one acknowledgment to our amelioration suggestions even to simply say "yes" or "no" or in "3 month"....
    I seems that team is mainly interested in our results (that's ok of course) but forget that the benevolents also need to be considered and that make their job easier isn't waste time.

    situation's better in cetain other zooniverse project (Planet Hunter by example) Don't know if they're more disponible, but they seem to be cause they ANSWER šŸ˜‰

    Or may be just a question of time and experience ?

    Posted

  • javi_goagc by javi_goagc

    I agree with MorfeoĀ“s suggestions. A score of the current activity of the team in general is not only interesting, but itĀ“s the most important figure in this project. And a counter of the activity of individual users shouldnĀ“t be too difficult to implement.

    For example: a current table of asteroid candidates that were sent to the Minor Planet Center but still awaits for confirmation/denial, or the total number of asteroidzoo discoveries confirmed by MPC so far since the beginning of AsteroidZoo (it should be the greatest and most visible figure once you enter the AsteroidZoo site, because itĀ“s simply the target of this site!!) .

    I also miss a INVERT TOOL in the image review section. I mean: you see an interesting post from another user, and click on it in order to review the image, try to find the object, maybe help him/her, or learn yourself, or just leave a comment. That seems more quality control, and better learning curve of all of us users of this platform. But there are certainly some asteroids that are very faint and only barely detectable after switching to Invert view. So, the image review section is not completely practical in this sense. As a user it is possible that we have not the tools needed to help/comment the object in question, in case itĀ“s too faint. I consider this very important.

    Just my 2 cents.

    Posted

  • javi_goagc by javi_goagc

    +1 for more Image information (calibration/frames/stack/limit magnit.approx,field of view in arcmins,TIMING information about the time different between frames,survey instrument that obtained such serie,etc).
    +1 for Delete posts in Talk section (I created one for a wrong object, but couldnt delete it afterwards)
    +1 for Edit/Delete marks in main analysis tool.

    Posted

  • proxima1 by proxima1 in response to peter_vince's comment.

    Same here. I rarely use the Play button anymore. I just drag the slider knob back and forth really fast and makes is somewhat easier to catch the 'roids.

    Posted

  • proxima1 by proxima1 in response to peter_vince's comment.

    I can't seem to find where the total metrics are available. My so-called "profile" merely shows all of the set's I've examined, but no totals for asteroids vs. artifacts, and I shouldn't have to mark each hit on my office wall in chalk.

    Posted

  • N5bz by N5bz

    I wrote an 'AutoHotKey' script that cycles through the images, over and over, as long as I hold the 'alt-a' key down.
    I agree with an earlier comment that no one at the project seems to be reading our comments.

    That explains why I seldom see others logged into the project.

    TO THE SCIENCE TEAM: this project could SAVE the human race from joining the trilobites and the dinosaurs.
    WHY AREN'T you monitoring and responding to our comments???????

    Posted

  • CTidwell3 by CTidwell3

    They have been reading and responding. You can find some of those responses here:

    http://talk.asteroidzoo.org/#/users/Dr.Asteroid

    As with other zooniverse projects, the complete team can often be limited in number and have other responsibilities from time to time that can limit how often responses and updates can be made.

    Posted