Brown dwarfs are balls of gas the size of Jupiter, less massive than stars. There is one brown dwarf for every three or four stars near the Sun. The discoveries have revealed a new variety of objects, including extreme T subdwarfs and other rarities such as ultra-cool objects and a brown dwarf that appears to have aurorae. The findings have helped inventory the distribution of mass in our galaxy and map our cosmic neighborhood, the researchers said.
The work was done over ten years with the help of roughly 200,000 volunteers. Of the paper's 75 authors, 61 are volunteers. Two other authors began as volunteers and later pursued careers in astronomy. The volunteers discovered the brown dwarfs in images from NASA's retired WISE and NEOWISE-R missions, using the Zooniverse citizen science platform to search for moving objects by blinking images taken over 16 years. Some volunteers built their own search tools and data analysis software.
I truly appreciate the recognition for all of us who collaborated, in some way, on this effort.
"I truly appreciate the recognition for all of us who collaborated, in some way, on this effort," said Walter Ruben Robledo, an amateur astronomer and Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 volunteer. Mayahuel Torres Guerrero, another volunteer, said: "When I received the news about the co-authorship, I thought: Yes, dreams do come true."
When I received the news about the co-authorship, I thought: Yes, dreams do come true.