Citizen Scientists Spot 1,500 Cool Worlds That Are Bigger Than Planets But Lighter Than The Stars

Citizen scientists have found more than 1,500 brown dwarfs – “cold worlds” more massive than planets but lighter than stars – in our galactic neighborhood.

The finds were part of “Backyard Worlds: Planet 9,” a project that recruited more than 100,000 people to scour astronomical data for new “nearby” objects.

Some of the brown dwarfs are even some of the coolest of their type known – with temperatures close to those of Earth and the potential to harbor water clouds.

The closest of the newly discovered brown dwarfs is just 23 light years from Earth, with many more within 30 to 60 light years, astronomers say.

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“These cool worlds provide the opportunity for new perspectives on the formation and atmospheres of planets beyond the solar system,” said author and astronomer Aaron Meisner of the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) NOIRLab.

“ This collection of cold brown dwarfs also allows us to accurately estimate the number of free-floating worlds roaming interstellar space near the Sun. ”

Brown dwarfs are the “ chilling embers ” of space – too small to withstand the nuclear reactions that power the stars, they are weak and hard to spot, which is why astronomers chased them nearby, in our galactic neighborhood.

Experts believe brown dwarfs cool down as they age, starting at near-stellar temperatures but cooling down until they are on par with planets like Earth – a hypothesis recent findings have provided evidence. supporting.

The Backyard Worlds Project has recruited more than 100,000 citizen scientists to study billions of pixels of telescope images for subtle signs of planets and brown dwarfs moving through space.

According to astronomers, there is still no substitute for the human eye when it comes to scouring telescope images for subtle evidence of moving objects – despite recent advances in machine learning and computer hardware.

The astronomical data studied was collected by the 4-meter Nicholas U. Mayall telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona and the 4-meter Victor M. Blanco telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile.

Although the researchers only published data on the 95 coldest finds, the volunteers identified more than 1,500 brown dwarfs in astronomical data – a record for any citizen science program by a factor of 20.

“It’s great to know that our findings are now counted as neighbors of the Sun and will be the subject of further research,” added co-author and citizen scientist Jim Walla.

The project used Astro Data Lab, a special online portal that allows researchers and citizen scientists to easily explore massive astronomical catalogs – containing billions of objects.

“This article proves that the solar neighborhood is still uncharted territory and that citizen scientists are excellent astronomical cartographers,” said author and astronomer Jackie Faherty of the American Museum of Natural History.

“Mapping the cooler brown dwarfs down to the lowest masses gives us key insights into the process of low mass star formation while providing a list of targets for detailed studies of the atmospheres of Jupiter’s analogues.

“It is great to see such exciting results from NOIRLab’s efforts to expand participation in astronomical research,” said NSF astronomer Chris Davis.

Making archival data from NSF’s Mayall and Blanco telescopes publicly available and easily accessible […] people fascinated by astronomy can make a real contribution to science and to our understanding of the Universe ”.

“Large modern datasets can unlock breakthrough discoveries and it is exciting that these can be spotted first by a citizen scientist,” said Dr Meisner.

“Members of the public can play an important role in reshaping our scientific understanding of our solar neighborhood,” he concluded.

The full results of the study were published in The Astrophysical Journal.