Hobbyist Discovers 34 Ultra-Cool Dwarf Binaries By Going Through Files

July 8. () –

A total of 34 ultracold dwarf binary systems, a figure that almost doubles the previously known sampleshave been discovered by an amateur scientist reviewing archival data.

Specifically, has searched NSF’s NOIRLab catalog of 4 billion celestial objects, known as NOIRLab Source Catalog DR2to reveal brown dwarfs with companions.

Brown dwarfs are somewhere between the most massive planets and the smallest stars. Lacking the mass needed to sustain nuclear reactions in their core, brown dwarfs vaguely resemble embers cooling on a large scale. Their weakness and relatively small size make them difficult to identify. Data from sensitive telescopes have enabled the discovery of several thousand objects, but only a small subset has been identified as binary. The difficulty in observing these faint embers also means that astronomers they are not yet sure how often brown dwarfs have companions.

To help find brown dwarfs, astronomers with the Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 citizen science project have previously drawn on a worldwide network of more than 100,000 volunteer citizen scientists who examined telescope images to identify the subtle motion of brown dwarfs against background stars. Despite the abilities of machine learning and supercomputers, the human eye remains a unique resource when it comes to searching for moving objects in telescope images.

“The Backyard Worlds project has fostered a diverse community of talented volunteers,” said Aaron Meisner, astronomer with NSF’s NOIRLab and co-founder of Backyard Worlds. “One hundred and fifty thousand volunteers from around the world have participated in Backyard Worlds, among which a few hundred ‘super users’ carry out ambitious self-directed research projects”.

One of those “super detectives”, citizen scientist Frank Kiwy, embarked on a research project involving NOIRLab’s DR2 Source Catalog, a catalog of nearly 4 billion unique celestial objects that contains all of the public imagery data in the world. NOIRLab astronomical data archive.

By searching the data for objects with the color of brown dwarfs, Kiwy was able to find more than 2,500 potential ultracool dwarfs lurking in the file. They were then analyzed for signs of comorbid companions, yielding a total of 34 systems comprising a white dwarf or low-mass star with an ultracold dwarf companion. Kiwy then led a team of professional astrophysicists to publish these discoveries in a scientific paper in The Astronomical Journal.

“I love the Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 project. Once you master the normal workflow, you can go much deeper into the subject,” Kiwi commented. “If you’re a curious person and not afraid to learn something new, this might be right for you.”