Black holes are, without a doubt, the most mysterious and at the same time the most fascinating objects in the Universe. A supermassive one was photographed in 2019, but many roam the space. In fact, astronomers estimate that there are 100 million in our galaxy only! So naturally, some of these black holes are hiding in space photos. Do you think you can spot them? Astronomers are seeking help in finding black holes in photographs, and you can be the one to contribute.
A research team from the Open University and the University of Southampton has published a project Black Hole Hunters. It sounds like a show on Discovery Channel, but it’s a citizen scientist project, one of many published on Zooniverse. “We know there should be a huge number of black holes out there orbiting companion stars or just drifting alone through the cosmos,” researchers write. “Lensing is one of the best (and only) ways for us to find them, but we need the help of citizen scientists.”
Royal Astronomical Society explains how black holes are formed: However, the trouble is that not all black holes are feeding. And these are the ones you’re supposed to look for. They are hidden because nothing is falling in and there are no x-rays to tell us where they are. However, there’s another tell-tale sign which can give them away. “The gravity of a black hole is strong enough that it can bend light from stars,” the society writes. It acts like “a magnifying glass that makes the star’s light appear brighter for a short period of time.” Since there are possibly 100 million of black holes, this is a job that can’t be done by computer only, or by a handful of scientists. The researchers need your eagle eye to help them find these intriguing objects. Adam McMaster, one of the co-leads of the project, said in a statement: If you’d like to join the search, visit the Black Hole Hunters project website. All you need to do is look at a few simple graphs of how the brightness of stars changed and let the team know if any look like the types of changes they’re looking for. [via Digital Trends; lead image credits: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center; background, ESA/Gaia/DPAC]
