FAQ
Questions, answered plainly
Is it safe to run on my computer?
Yes. Everything happens inside your browser tab, inside the browser’s own sandbox — the same protection every website runs under. TheGodex downloads public sky images, analyzes them on your GPU, and uploads only the measurements. It cannot read your files, see your screen, or run anything outside the tab. Close the tab and it stops instantly.
What does my GPU actually do?
It compares photographs of the same patch of sky taken at different times — hours apart for asteroid hunting, decades apart for stellar motion — and measures anything that moved, appeared, or vanished. You choose how much compute to share (Eco to Maximum) in Settings, and it only runs while the tab is open.
Will it slow down my computer or drain my battery?
The default mode is tuned for everyday use — small batches with pauses. Eco mode pauses on battery power. You’re always in control, and closing the tab ends everything.
Who owns a discovery?
Discoveries belong to the scientific record — and the credit belongs to the people who made them. Every discovery page permanently names the volunteers whose machines measured the object and the reviewers who verified it. If a find is reported to an external body (like the Minor Planet Center), the contributors are part of that record. TheGodex never strips your name off your find — though you can choose to appear anonymous in Settings.
How do you stop fake or mistaken discoveries?
Three layers. First, our server independently re-fetches the same public archive images and re-measures every claim — fabricated detections are rejected automatically. Second, contributors can’t review their own finds, and review consensus is weighted by each reviewer’s measured accuracy on synthetic test targets we quietly mix into the work. Third, verified institutions provide expert sign-off before anything is reported outward.
Do I need to know astronomy?
No. The passive layer needs nothing from you at all — your machine does the searching. If you want to take part in review, the Explorer shows you two photographs and asks a human question: did something really move or change here? The judgment is yours; the context is provided.
What data do you collect about me?
An email address, a display name, and the contributions your machine makes. Demographics are optional and never public. You can export everything we hold about you, or delete your account — your personal data is erased and your measurements are anonymized. Details in the privacy policy.
What has the platform actually found?
Honestly: most analysis finds nothing — that’s the truthful nature of a sky survey. The pipeline has been validated end-to-end on real known asteroids (measured to within a fraction of an arcsecond of their predicted positions) and real historical stellar motion. Every candidate’s verification status is shown honestly, rung by rung.