Black Hole Hunters: Searching for hidden black holes

Guest Speaker

Thursday, 2nd April 2026 (19:45 - 22:00)

Venue: Hybrid

Based on what we know about how black holes form, we know the Galaxy should contain millions of stellar-mass black holes. Yet we only know of about 70 of them. Where are all the missing ones and why haven't we found them yet?
In this talk I will explain how we know the galaxy should contain so many black holes, how we've managed to detect the ones we've already found, and why that is not going to help us to find the rest. I will then present an intriguing new method for finding black holes that we're currently using to carry out a large-scale search with help from non-expert volunteers on the Zooniverse citizen science platform.
Come and find out how you can help us find the Galaxy's missing black holes!

Join online if you can't meet us at the meeting room HERE

Speaker: Adam McMaster

I am an astronomer at the University of Southampton, specialising in time-domain astronomy and the classification of astronomical light curves through citizen science. I lead two Zooniverse projects: Black Hole Hunters, which searches for black holes in self-lensing binary systems, and SuperWASP Variable Stars, which catalogues variable stars using archival data from the SuperWASP all-sky survey.

My research interests include astrophysical transients, variable phenomena across the universe, and the application of machine learning techniques to the analysis and classification of large astronomical datasets.