{"id":11307,"date":"2026-10-15T22:44:17","date_gmt":"2026-10-15T21:44:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magazines.soton.ac.uk\/feps\/?p=11307"},"modified":"2026-10-22T09:47:49","modified_gmt":"2026-10-22T08:47:49","slug":"scientists-enlist-armchair-astronomers-to-find-thousands-of-black-holes-hiding-in-our-galaxy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magazines.soton.ac.uk\/feps\/2026\/10\/15\/scientists-enlist-armchair-astronomers-to-find-thousands-of-black-holes-hiding-in-our-galaxy\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientists enlist armchair astronomers to find thousands of black holes hiding in our galaxy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Scientists enlist armchair astronomers to find thousands of black holes hiding in our galaxy<\/h2><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Cosmic detectives are being called on for an interstellar mission to hunt down thousands of invisible black holes lurking in our own back yard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Space scientists from the University of Southampton need amateur astronomers to search for signs that might locate them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They know the location of about 70 black holes but reckon there could be thousands more hiding in our galaxy yet to be discovered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Experts behind the Black Holes Hunters project used a clever AI system to pre-screen millions of possible locations in our Milky Way and pinpoint where they may be hidden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The system used advanced techniques to examine vast amounts of data, searching in days what used to take years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The case is now being handed over to citizen scientists to finish the job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr Adam McMaster from Southampton\u2019s School of Physics and Astronomy says:<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBlack holes are famously elusive and trap light, which hide them from telescopes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut they often leave clues because of their strong gravity, which can bend light as they orbit around stars creating an effect called gravitational self-lensing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOnce we detect this, we\u2019ll know an invisible black hole exists.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The space data being used in the Black Hole Hunters project is taken from NASA’s planet-hunting telescope TESS, or the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It has already struck a chord with amateur astronomers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stargazer Grace Clarke, 20, studies physics with astronomy at the University of Southampton and signed up to the Black Hole Hunters project to \u201cmake history\u201d.

The undergrad said: \u201cThere’s still so little we know about black holes so the idea of finding one in our backyard is very exciting.

“This is why the Hunters project\u2019s so interesting to me,\u201d added Grace, who is also president of the university\u2019s astronomy society.

\u201cI can search for black holes on my laptop from my bedroom \u2013 and could make a real impact on real space science.
\u201cThe data\u2019s easy to understand, it’s just pattern recognition, and you don’t need a degree in astronomy to read it.\u201d<\/div>