Cosmic Companions

NASA's new Backyard Worlds: Binaries project allows volunteers to help astronomers discover rare brown dwarf-star pairs. By inspecting images from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) space telescope, participants can contribute to a better understanding of these enigmatic objects.

Brown dwarfs are common but mysterious, with one for every three or four stars in the Milky Way galaxy. They are important for understanding giant planets like Jupiter. The project lead, Aaron Meisner, emphasizes the need for volunteers to gain critical insights into these cosmic objects.

Anyone with a laptop or cell phone can participate in the project, which does not require citizenship in any particular country. Volunteers can also try other brown dwarf-related projects, such as Backyard Worlds: Cool Neighbors.