This app lets you help scientists detect black holes, but not in the way you might think

Black Hole Finder is a new app that lets anyone help scientists locate black holes. Available for free, this app turns your smartphone into an astronomical research tool.

Black Hole Finder, developed by the Dutch Black Hole Consortium, offers users the chance to embark on a unique scientific adventure. Although the application does not detect them directly, it allows its users to participate in identification of these mysterious celestial objects in sorting images captured by telescopesThis citizen science project gives everyone the opportunity to help locate these rare phenomena.

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THE stellar mass black holes can form as a result of violent cosmic events, such as kilonovas. These are the result of the collision between a neutron star and a black hole. To observe these events, the consortium uses the BlackGEM telescopes located in Chile. However, these telescopes capture much more than stellar phenomena, and many images must be sorted to distinguish real light sources from artifacts or reflections. This is where users come in.

Black Hole Finder lets you help scientists identify new black holes

The Black Hole Finder app doesn’t detect black holes itself, but it helps scientists find them by soliciting collective intelligence. Users compare three images at once and must determine whether these show real or fake sources. This simple, application-guided process helps to refine search by eliminating false leads. This allows astronomers to concentrate their efforts on the most promising images.

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Available for free on major download platforms, Black Hole Finder turns every user into an amateur finder. In addition to participate in the discovery of new astronomical sourcesthe public helps to improve algorithms of artificial intelligence.Humans are even better than algorithms at spotting patterns“, explains Steven Bloemen, project manager at BlackGEM. Thanks to this application, it becomes possible for everyone to contribute to science, while helping to locate black holes hidden in the depths of the universe.