Exploding star discovery shines spotlight on citizen science and Monash astrophysicists
Associate Professor Duncan Galloway and PhD candidate Sergey Belkin
In a powerful demonstration of how science is evolving beyond the lab, a global citizen science initiative has helped uncover an extraordinary stellar explosion backed by Monash University researchers playing a key role in its discovery and analysis.
Published today in Astronomy & Astrophysics, the paper details the discovery of GOTO0650, a rare cataclysmic variable star that brightened by a factor of 2,500 in just a few days. The explosion was first flagged by volunteers participating in the Kilonova Seekers project, a public-facing program that invites people to scan telescope data for transient phenomena.
“This is a stunning example of what’s possible when professional astronomy teams and the public come together,” said Associate Professor Duncan Galloway from the Monash University School of Physics and Astronomy. “Our GOTO observatory network triggers autonomously and uses machine learning algorithms to detect extreme space events - but review of the data by humans remains critical to turn the 'blips' into breakthroughs. In this case, the human contribution came from our dedicated Kilonova Seekers citizen partners.”
The GOTO (Gravitational-wave Optical Transient Observer) telescope array spans observatories in Spain and Australia - including at Siding Spring Observatory in New South Wales, where Monash University helps lead data collection and analysis. On 14 November 2023, volunteers spotted something unusual: a brilliant new light in the sky, invisible just two nights earlier.
That’s where the Kilonova Seekers come in. With over 3,500 volunteers worldwide making more than 2.8 million classifications, the project has become a model for blending public engagement with frontier science. Kilonova Seekers was built on the existing GOTO transient detection procedure by collaboration members Dr Lisa Kelsey (Cambridge) and Dr Tom Killestein (Warwick). Tom and Lisa led the paper that resulted from the citizen science detection.
Dr Lisa Kelsey, Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at the University of Cambridge, said: “Citizen science is a powerful way to make novel serendipitous discoveries in vast datasets that would normally need to be analysed in depth by scientists. Without the Kilonova Seekers volunteers flagging this object, rapid follow-up would not have been possible, and this object may have been missed entirely.”
Their rapid identification set off a coordinated cascade of observations using space telescopes and amateur astronomers’ gear, providing rare early-stage data on the event’s light curve, X-ray emission and spectrum.
Monash PhD candidate Sergey Belkin, who contributed to the object’s classification and follow-up, said: “GOTO0650 is what we call a ‘period bouncer’, a cataclysmic variable system in its final evolutionary stage. These are very rare. Thanks to the volunteers, we captured its behaviour at just the right time to identify it.”
Cataclysmic variables are compact binary systems where a white dwarf pulls material from a companion star until the accumulated mass ignites in a bright explosion. Despite their violent nature, many such eruptions go unnoticed due to the sheer volume of sky data being generated.
The discovery marks the Kilonova Seekers’ first major published result, celebrated not only for its scientific merit but for the grassroots enthusiasm it ignited. Volunteer Svetoslav Alexandrov said: “I knew I am a co-discoverer of something significant, and this was all that mattered.”
With its combination of cutting-edge technology, global collaboration and public passion, the GOTO0650 story highlights a future of science that’s more open, more agile, and more human than ever before.
About GOTO
GOTO is a network of telescopes that is principally funded by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) and operated by the University of Warwick at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory on La Palma, Spain, and Siding Spring Observatory in NSW, Australia, on behalf of a consortium including the University of Warwick, Monash University, Armagh Observatory & Planetarium, the University of Leicester, the University of Sheffield, the National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand (NARIT), the University of Turku, the University of Portsmouth, the University of Manchester and the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias (IAC).
Further information
Silvia Dropulich
Marketing, Media & Communications Manager, Monash Science
T: +61 3 9902 4513 M: +61 435 138 743
Email: silvia.dropulich@monash.edu