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Photo: Volker Heesen / LOFAR Survey Team
Galaxy 3C31 spans more than three million light years. In this image, an image taken with Lofar (in red) is combined with a photograph taken in visible light. 3C31 is located about 209 million light years away in the constellation Pisces.
Those who feel bored in isolation can now bring their lives to life by searching for supermassive black holes in space. An international astronomical citizen research project has recently been translated into Swedish.
Anyone with access to a computer can click on Radio Galaxy Zoo: Praise and participate in a research project that aims to match black holes with the correct host galaxy. The goal is, among other things, to gain a better understanding of how our own galaxy, the Milky Way, was formed.
The images are taken with the giant Lofar radio telescope, which captures radio waves instead of visible light. In this way, strange patterns are revealed that form in the vicinity of black holes, for example, huge jets of gas being thrown into space.
The eyes of the best man
In total, it involves hundreds of thousands of images of such phenomena. The problem is that they are largely incomplete and need to be properly assembled with ordinary telescope images representing galaxies where black holes are hiding.
“It is still true that a person’s eyes and brain are slightly better than computers at doing such things,” says Robert Cumming, a communicator at the Onsala Space Observatory in Chalmers, which is part of the project.
In total, the international research team behind Lofar is made up of more than 200 astronomers from 18 different countries. But to see all the images, you need a lot more eyes. That is why researchers are turning to the public for help.
– It is a bit like seeing a pair of wings on a bird and then looking for another image of the body itself. Sometimes it’s pretty obvious, sometimes it’s a little bit more complicated. And it doesn’t matter if you’re wrong, because there are many people who help, says Robert Cumming.
New phenomena
Anyone who chooses to participate in the project will also have the opportunity to ask researchers questions about their findings. Comment fields are open and Robert Cumming promises interesting discussions.
– Researchers are on the thread to answer questions and give advice. There are people who have made very exciting discoveries, you can see a whole new phenomenon, says Robert Cumming.
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