Burst Chaser

Help decipher signals gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), the most energetic and mysterious explosions in the universe!

GRBs might stem from neutron stars colliding, binary stars merging, black holes swallowing stars, or stars going supernova. Patterns in the arrival times of the gamma rays can help us decide which cause is most likely. At Burst Chaser, you’ll help astronomers classify these patterns, called “light curves” to help us better understand distant cosmic cataclysms from across the universe.

Burst Chaser is also available in French, Spanish, Italian, and Hindi.

Go to Project Website

ages

18 and up

division

Universe

where

Online

launched

2023

What you’ll do

Learn how to recognize common patterns in plots of data called light curves.
Examine light curves and answer questions about them to help sort them into categories.
Interact with peers and scientists on the Zooniverse TALK bulletin board.

Requirements

Time: 5-15 minutes to complete the tutorial
Equipment: Web-connected device.
Knowledge: None. In project tutorial provides all instruction needed.

Get started!

Visit the project website.
Click on “About” to learn more about our research or “Classify” to dive right in.
Complete the tutorial for the workflow(s) you’d like to work on.
Start contributing!

Learn More

Check out the project’s FAQ page for more information on the science behind this project and how to do the tasks associated with it. The page includes two video clips that will help you understand gamma-ray bursts and neutron stars, which produce some gamma-ray bursts.

Left: A dark blob at the center of the image is surrounded by a paler shadow that is roughly spherical on the left of the blob and spreads out on the right, as if the blob was moving through something from right to left. and Right image: a tight dark spot in the middle of the frame has a tail of grey material extending down to the bottom left. The tail is darkest near the dark spot, getting increasingly faint with distance.

Left: A coma is the fuzzy glow that forms around orbiting bodies (like comets or active asteroids) when they approach the Sun. This fuzzy glow indicates the vaporization of gases or water resulting from solar heating.

Right: The tails of active asteroids or comets consist of vapor and dust, and can vary in shape, length, and intensity. They may even have multiple tails extending in different directions!

Data are graphed in blue on a white background with black text and lines. The title text reads GRB190515B. The Y-axis is labeled “Counts” and the X-axis “Time since burst detection (s).” The blue data appear as a tight squiggle that is shifted upwards in the middle of the timeline before dropping down to the same squiggle. The central spike of data are highlighted by a light blue rectangle that extends from top to bottom of the graph.

A Burst Chaser light curve. The blue-highlighted region marks the main burst emission as identified by a computer algorithm. You’ll be asked to focus on pulse structures within the blue region. This particular image shows a simple burst, which has a symmetrical appearance resembling an isosceles triangle.

Credit: Burst Chaser project field guide.

Line graph of data in blue on a white background with black text, save one line labeled “Pulse,” which is in orange. The title text reads GRB190630C. The Y-axis is labeled “Counts” and the X-axis “Time since burst detection (s).” The blue data appear as a tight squiggle that abruptly rises and then gradually returns to the same squiggle. The orange line follows this fast rise and slow fall, cutting through the squiggles. The central spike of data and its gradual return to center is also highlighted by a light blue rectangle that extends from top to bottom of the graph.

Another example of the light curves studied by the Burst Chaser project. This time the computer-identified burst (as indicated by the vertical blue band) is what’s called a “fast rise, slow decay” pulse. The blue line that indicates the strength of the light signal also varies randomly up and down across the graph. This fluctuation is “noise,” meaningless disruption of the signal.
The blue-highlighted region marks the main burst emission in each light curve (see above).

Credit: Burst Chaser project field guide.