NASA-funded website lets public search for new nearby worlds 15 February 2017, by Francis Reddy WISE scanned the entire sky between 2010 and 2011, producing the most comprehensive survey at mid-infrared wavelengths currently available. With the completion of its primary mission, WISE was shut down in 2011. It was then reactivated in 2013 and given a new mission assisting NASA's efforts to identify potentially hazardous near-Earth objects (NEOs), which are asteroids and comets on orbits that bring them into the vicinity of Earth's orbit. The mission was renamed the Near-Earth Object Wide- field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE). The new website uses the data to search for unknown objects in and beyond our own solar system. In 2016, astronomers at Caltech in This artist's concept illustrates a close-up view of a cool Pasadena, California, showed that several distant brown dwarf. Objects like this, drifting just beyond our solar system objects possessed orbital features solar system, have been imaged by NASA's Wide-field indicating they were affected by the gravity of an as- Infrared Survey Explorer and could be discovered by yet-undetected planet, which the researchers Backyard Worlds: Planet 9. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech nicknamed "Planet Nine." If Planet Nine—also known as Planet X—exists and is as bright as some predictions, it could show up in WISE data. NASA is inviting the public to help search for The search also may discover more distant objects possible undiscovered worlds in the outer reaches like brown dwarfs, sometimes called failed stars, in of our solar system and in neighboring interstellar nearby interstellar space. space. A new website, called Backyard Worlds: Planet 9, lets everyone participate in the search by "Brown dwarfs form like stars but evolve like viewing brief movies made from images captured planets, and the coldest ones are much like by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer Jupiter," said team member Jackie Faherty, an (WISE) mission. The movies highlight objects that astronomer at the American Museum of Natural have gradually moved across the sky. History in New York. "By using Backyard Worlds: Planet 9, the public can help us discover more of "There are just over four light-years between these strange rogue worlds." Neptune and Proxima Centauri, the nearest star, and much of this vast territory is unexplored," said Unlike more distant objects, those in or closer to lead researcher Marc Kuchner, an astrophysicist at the solar system appear to move across the sky at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in different rates. The best way to discover them is Greenbelt, Maryland. "Because there's so little through a systematic search of moving objects in sunlight, even large objects in that region barely WISE images. While parts of this search can be shine in visible light. But by looking in the infrared, done by computers, machines are often WISE may have imaged objects we otherwise overwhelmed by image artifacts, especially in would have missed." crowded parts of the sky. These include brightness spikes associated with star images and blurry blobs 1 / 3 caused by light scattered inside WISE's unlock once-in-a-century discoveries, and it's instruments. exciting to think they could be spotted first by a citizen scientist," said team member Aaron Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 relies on human eyes Meisner, a postdoctoral researcher at the University because we easily recognize the important moving of California, Berkeley, who specializes in analyzing objects while ignoring the artifacts. It's a 21st- WISE images. century version of the technique astronomer Clyde Tombaugh used to find Pluto in 1930, a discovery Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 is a collaboration made 87 years ago this week. between NASA, UC Berkeley, the American Museum of Natural History in New York, Arizona State University, the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, and Zooniverse, a collaboration of scientists, software developers and educators who collectively develop and manage citizen science projects on the internet. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, manages and operates WISE for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. The WISE mission was selected competitively under NASA's Explorers Program managed by the agency's Goddard Space Flight Center. The science instrument was built by the Space Dynamics Laboratory in Logan, Utah. The spacecraft was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. in Boulder, Colorado. Science operations and data processing take place at the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center at Caltech, which manages JPL for NASA. More information: backyardworlds.org/ A previously cataloged brown dwarf named WISE 0855?0714 shows up as a moving orange dot (upper left) in this loop of WISE images spanning five years. By viewing movies like this, anyone can help discover more Provided by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center of these objects. Credit: NASA/WISE On the website, people around the world can work their way through millions of "flipbooks," which are brief animations showing how small patches of the sky changed over several years. Moving objects flagged by participants will be prioritized by the science team for follow-up observations by professional astronomers. Participants will share credit for their discoveries in any scientific publications that result from the project. "Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 has the potential to 2 / 3 APA citation: NASA-funded website lets public search for new nearby worlds (2017, February 15) retrieved 30 September 2021 from https://phys.org/news/2017-02-nasa-funded-website-nearby- worlds.html This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only. 3 / 3 Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org).