Help the search

Review candidates with us

A computer finds the changes; people are still the best judges of which ones are real. Look at each and say what you see: it takes a few seconds an image.

Why people help

Clyde Tombaugh found Pluto in 1930 by flipping between two photographs of the same stars. Volunteers in NASA’s Backyard Worlds project still do it with infrared maps, and have found cold brown dwarfs that automatic searches missed.

The search here is fast but literal. A person can tell at a glance whether a change looks like a star, or like a reflection, a streak or a speck of noise. Three real examples from SPHEREx:

  • Barnard’s Star

    It moves

    The bright star steps up, towards the north. The small square is the : later minus earlier.

    Open in the Lab

  • RW Aurigae

    It changes brightness

    The star in the middle stays put but fades.

    Open in the Lab

  • A ring near Epsilon Indi B

    Nothing real

    A ring appears, while the star beside it stays the same. Probably a reflection of a bright star nearby: an .

    Open in the Lab

Practise first

Loading the latest candidates…

Your answers

Shared vote collection is not switched on yet. Your answers stay in this browser only; nobody else can see them. Download them to keep a copy or to send them to the team.

No answers saved yet.

Saved as you answer. A new answer to the same image replaces the old one.