Astronomers launch citizen science project to find Milky Way black holes

Astronomers have launched the ‘Black Hole Hunters’ project, a citizen science initiative inviting the public to help locate ‘missing’ black holes within the Milky Way. While it is estimated that the galaxy has produced over 10 million black holes during its 13-billion-year history, only 70 have been identified to date.

Volunteers with a computer and a few minutes of spare time can assist by sifting through vast amounts of data collected by a NASA space telescope. By identifying specific patterns that indicate a black hole's presence, participants can help accelerate a search process that would otherwise take years.

The project specifically looks for a gravitational lensing effect. This occurs when a black hole orbits a companion star; if the alignment is correct relative to Earth, the black hole’s gravity acts as a ‘cosmic magnifying glass,’ bending and magnifying the light of the star and causing it to appear briefly brighter.