A Celestial Expedition for Starbursts

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Trace toward the light of the Celestial Expedition!

Remember Starburst cells?  Those beautiful cells that have dendrites that centrally “burst” from the cell body like a firework? We certainly do!

We finished the Starburst Challenge back in 2014, but our researchers at Princeton are finding a few more potential Starburst cells that they would like traced by you, our Eyewirers.  These cells are all “Off-SAC” candidates. “Off-SAC” means a starburst amacrine cell located in the “off layer” of the dataset.  An Off-SAC cell reacts to dark stimuli (you can read more about our research on starbursts in our first Eyewire paper here).

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We’ll be launching a special Celestial Expedition to trace these candidate Starbursts today, Jan 5th at 4:30pm ET.  These cells will be available to our advanced level players who have passed the Level 2 Tutorial (previously known as the Starburst Tutorial).  And don’t worry, The Dig cells will continue to be available while we embark on this ongoing side quest!

For Science!

Starburst Tracing Tips:

  • Branches are thin so keep an eye out for narrow connections to continue your branch
  • Boutons (large bulbs) are common between the thin branches
  • Retro Starburst Tutorial Tip Video

A Note for Scythes:

Some of these cells will be Forts. They contain cells that are seeded from a branch and will require you to find and possibly trace the cell body. Please trace the outside nubs of the cell body, but do not fill in “dust” inside the cell body. Please inform the admins via email if you find a cell body so we can help freeze it. These also may have a higher potential to be missed branches on an older cell and thus become duplicates.