Blink Hunter: Find Asteroids!

Somewhere in this patch of sky, one faint point of light is moving. The stars stay fixed. The mover does not. In 1930, comparing photographic plates in exactly this way is how humanity first found Pluto.

Blink Hunter puts that method in your hands. Flip between exposures of a single star field, watch for the one object that shifts position, and recover it from the noise. Spot the asteroid. Name your discovery.

HOW IT WORKS
🔭 Blink between several exposures of the same field of stars
✦ One point of light changes position from frame to frame. That is your target.
👆 Tap the mover to confirm the detection
🏷️ Recover it, then log and name your find
⭐ Cleaner detections, in fewer moves, earn a higher rating
⚡ Observing runs on energy, which recharges over time

THE SCIENCE
🌌 This is the blink comparator, the real technique astronomers used to detect minor planets and to discover Pluto
🧠 Detection rewards patience and perception, not speed. There is no clock on your attention.
🛰️ Each field is generated with real optics in mind: point spread functions, background and read noise, cosmic ray hits, and a single faint mover to recover
📈 The sky gets harder as you go, with more crowding, slower motion, and fainter targets

FEATURES
◎ Pulse, Steady and Exposures tools for the most crowded fields
🔭 A clean Observatory interface: deep space dark, gold reticle
🏆 A three star rating on every field you clear
🔒 Fully offline. No account required.
🌠 Short sessions. An endless sky.

The next minor planet is hiding in plain sight. Can you recover the drift?

*These are NOT real asteroids, but this is exactly how you spot them in real life. Yeah, science!