Black Hole Hunters seeks volunteers to inspect changing starlight
Black Hole Hunters, established in 2021, is asking volunteers to examine graphs of stellar brightness from NASA’s TESS satellite. Brief brightening can identify candidates for an unseen black-hole companion, but follow-up measurements are needed. Automated screening narrows the data first; people then help select promising signals for telescope observations.
Science··Morning
Volunteers inspect stellar brightness
Black Hole Hunters is asking members of the public to examine graphs showing how stars brighten and dim. Space.com describes the appeal from University of Southampton astronomers; scinexx also reports volunteers checking pre-screened brightness curves. The project uses observations from TESS, NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite. Its planet-searching measurements also provide a record of short-lived increases in starlight that could flag an invisible companion.[1], [2]
Gravity can magnify a companion star
Under a suitable alignment, a black hole passing in front of its companion star can bend and magnify the light reaching Earth. That creates a temporary increase in the star's brightness. Automated screening first narrows the pool of signals. Volunteers then look for promising patterns among curves that can also contain stellar flares or natural pulsations. The task supplies examples and does not require an astronomy qualification.[1]
A candidate still needs telescope follow-up
A selected signal directs further observations rather than confirming a black hole by itself. Astronomers can measure a star's motion to test whether an unseen companion is pulling on it. The project began on Zooniverse in October 2021 and previously worked with ground-based SuperWASP data. The current appeal concerns participation in an established search, with earlier results still under analysis, rather than an announcement of a newly discovered black hole.[1]
