Rubin: Blobs and Blurs

Rubin: Blobs and Blurs asks volunteers to scan fresh observatory images for two slippery targets: irregular blue star systems and faint diffuse galaxies. It is less cosmic postcard than careful smudge patrol, with promising finds routed to astronomers for closer study.

What is Rubin: Blobs and Blurs?

The project's quarry lives near the edge of easy visibility. Blue blobs are clumpy, young stellar systems whose shapes do not behave like textbook spirals or ellipses; diffuse galaxies spread relatively few stars across a broad area, making them look more like pale breath on glass than obvious islands of light. Rubin: Blobs and Blurs turns that ambiguity into the task. Volunteers inspect image subjects from Rubin Observatory's Early Data Preview 2 around the M49 region of the Virgo Cluster and help narrow a large field to objects worth expert follow-up. The method has useful history: an earlier Blobs and Blurs campaign built a substantial diffuse-galaxy catalog and found candidates missed by automated searches. This new phase brings the same patient visual search to deeper Rubin data.

What you can do there

• Inspect Rubin Observatory sky images
• Mark possible blue blobs and diffuse galaxies

Why we picked it

Most space projects hand you dramatic objects; this one makes the barely-there objects the main event. Its charm is the slow click of recognition when a fuzzy patch starts to look deliberate, paired with a credible research path from volunteer marking to telescope follow-up.

How to get the most from it

Read the short research primer before classifying so you know the difference between a blue blob and a diffuse galaxy. Then begin with a brief session, use the field guide when a patch feels ambiguous, and favor careful uncertainty over enthusiastic guessing.

Good to know

The live classification interface, tutorial, account prompts, mobile support, accessibility, audio, and submission behavior were not executed here. Project counters displayed zero during review and may not reflect real activity. The page is English-only in Rubin's current catalog and cannot be embedded outside Zooniverse.

Who made it, and when?

David Sand is the credited creator or organization. The earliest supported launch date we found is September 1, 2026.