A new study from NASA’s Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 project reveals that volunteers have effectively doubled the number of known brown dwarfs, identifying over 3,000 new objects since the project’s inception ten years ago. Brown dwarfs, which are gas bodies comparable in size to Jupiter but less massive than stars, are found at a ratio of one for every three or four stars near our Sun.
Despite their prevalence, brown dwarfs are notoriously difficult to detect due to their faint luminosity compared to stars. The increase in the number of brown dwarfs available for study enhances astronomers’ ability to understand these elusive celestial bodies. The newly compiled list has already uncovered a variety of intriguing objects, including the extreme T subdwarfs, ultra-cool brown dwarfs, and even one that appears to exhibit aurorae.
This significant discovery aids in mapping the distribution of mass within our galaxy and provides a clearer picture of our cosmic neighborhood. The findings were published in the Astronomical Journal, with the research led by astronomer Adam Schneider from the U.S. Naval Observatory. The project has been bolstered by the efforts of approximately 200,000 volunteers, with 61 of the 75 authors on the paper being volunteers themselves. Notably, two authors began their journey as volunteers before transitioning into professional astronomy careers.
“I truly appreciate the recognition for all of us who collaborated, in some way, on this effort,” stated Walter Ruben Robledo, an amateur astronomer and Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 volunteer from Cordoba, Argentina. Another volunteer, Mayahuel Torres Guerrero from Mexico City, expressed joy upon receiving co-authorship, saying, “Yes, dreams do come true.”
The brown dwarfs were discovered using images captured by NASA’s retired Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) and the Near-Earth-Object WISE Reactivation mission (NEOWISE-R). Volunteers utilized the Zooniverse citizen science platform to analyze the data, searching for moving objects by blinking images taken over a span of 16 years. Some volunteers even developed their own search tools and data analysis software to aid in the discovery process.
The Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 project continues to explore more than 2 billion sources observed by WISE and NEOWISE-R. Those interested in contributing to future discoveries can join the search at backyardworlds.org.
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