A new paper from NASA’s Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 project announces that volunteers have essentially doubled the number of known brown dwarfs, with over 3,000 new discoveries made over the past 10 years since the project began. Brown dwarfs are balls of gas the size of Jupiter, less massive than stars. There’s one for every three or four stars near the Sun.
Although brown dwarfs are common, they can be hard to spot because they shine so faintly compared to stars. Having twice as many brown dwarfs to study allows astronomers a deeper understanding of these elusive objects. Already, this vital new list of brown dwarfs has revealed a new variety of objects – the extreme T subdwarfs and many other rarities, such as ultra-cool objects and a brown dwarf that appears to have aurorae. It has also helped us inventory the distribution of mass in our galaxy and map our cosmic neighborhood.
The discoveries are published in a paper published in the Astronomical Journal, led by astronomer Adam Schneider from the U.S. Naval Observatory. They represent work done over the course of ten years aided by a team of roughly 200,000 volunteers. Of the paper’s 75 authors, 61 are volunteers. Two of the other authors began their work with the team as volunteers and then embarked on careers in astronomy.
“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 from Cordoba, Argentina.
“When I received the news about the co-authorship, I thought: Yes, dreams do come true,” said another volunteer, Mayahuel Torres Guerrero, from Mexico City.
The volunteers discovered these brown dwarfs in images taken by NASA’s retired Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) and Near-Earth-Object WISE Reactivation mission (NEOWISE-R). They examined the data using the Zooniverse citizen science platform, searching for moving objects by blinking images taken over a 16-year time period. Some volunteers even contributed by building their own search tools and data analysis software.
Want to help make the next brown dwarf discovery? The Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 project is still sifting through more than 2 billion sources seen by WISE and NEOWISE-R. Join the search at backyardwords.org.
Artist’s concept of a brown dwarf by Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 volunteer William Pendrill. The Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 project announced the discovery of more than 3,000 of these objects over the past 10 years, doubling the number known. Join the search at backyardworlds.org! Credit: William PendrillLearn More and Get Involved
Backyard Worlds: Planet 9
Search the realm beyond Neptune for new planets, nearby stars and more. For anyone with a smartphone or laptop.
Facebook logo @nasascience_ @nasascience_ Instagram logo @nasascience_ Linkedin logo @nasascience_Share
Details
Last Updated May 05, 2026Related Terms
Citizen Science Astrophysics Astrophysics DivisionExplore More
4 min readFor NASA’s TESS, Stellar Eclipses Shed Light on Possible New Worlds
Article 1 day ago3 min read
Hubble Spots a Starry Spiral
In this new picture from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, a spiral galaxy glittering with star…
Article 4 days ago4 min read
NASA Connects Little Red Dots with Chandra, Webb
Article 7 days ago
Hence then, the article about nasa volunteers double known population of brown dwarfs was published today ( ) and is available on NASA ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( NASA Volunteers Double Known Population of Brown Dwarfs )
Also on site :