Feed aggregator

Explore This Section

1. Science
2. Citizen Science
3. Search for Hidden Cosmic…

• Overview
• Resources
• Opportunities
• Citizen Science
• Highlights
• About Science Activation

 

Some stars have planets. Others are orbited by brown dwarfs, balls of gas too massive to be planets, but too low-mass to be stars. Astronomers love these brown dwarf-star pairs because being paired with a star helps reveal a brown dwarf’s age. Ages of astronomical objects are often hard to measure, but essential for understanding how they form. 

Now, you can join NASA’s new Backyard Worlds: Binaries project and help astronomers discover these rare and interesting pairs. As a volunteer, you’ll inspect images from NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) space telescope. Brown dwarfs may appear as small dots moving across a field of otherwise static stars. 

“We need your help to gain critical insights into these enigmatic cosmic objects,” said project lead Aaron Meisner.

Brown dwarfs are common but mysterious because they are so faint. There’s one for every three or four stars in our corner of the Milky Way galaxy. They are important laboratories for understanding giant planets like Jupiter.

Join the Backyard Worlds: Binaries project today and help astronomers understand where and when brown dwarfs form! You can also try one of our other brown dwarf-related projects: Backyard Worlds: Cool Neighbors! Anyone with a laptop or cell phone can participate. Participation does not require citizenship in any particular country.

Facebook logo @nasascience_

@nasascience_

Instagram logo @nasascience_

Linkedin logo @nasascience_

Share

• 
  
  
• 
  
  
• 
  
  
• 
  
  

Details

Last Updated

Jun 17, 2026

Editor NASA Science Editorial Team

Related Terms

• Citizen Science
• Astrophysics Division
• Brown Dwarfs
• WISE (Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer)

Explore More

4 min read NASA’s Webb Catches Exoplanet Getting Roasted

That’s the latest from researchers analyzing NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s observations of HD 80606…

Article


23 hours ago

2 min read Hubble Sees Swarm of Galaxies

Looking somewhat like a swarm of bees returning to their hive, this NASA Hubble Space…

Article


5 days ago

2 min read Be a Clump Scout and Help Reveal Secrets of Stellar Nurseries

Help identify star-forming clumps in galaxy images, and help train machines to do the same.

Article


2 weeks ago

A photon born in the Sun's core takes around 100,000 years to fight its way to the surface, bouncing through a random walk so inefficient that the light on your face is older than human civilization. Why the Sun's surface is a hundred-millennia-delayed broadcast.

Putting brain cells into a hibernation-like state via drugs that cool down core body temperature may help to preserve them following a stroke

Putting brain cells into a hibernation-like state via drugs that cool down core body temperature may help to preserve them following a stroke

Sarah O'Connor's We Are Not Machines explores how we are contorting ourselves to fit AI into our working lives – and what to do about it, finds Tom Knowles

Feedback is delighted to explore research digging into the relationship between a reptile's body mass and the length of its Wikipedia entry – but would like to throw Godzilla into the mix

Sarah O'Connor's We Are Not Machines explores how we are contorting ourselves to fit AI into our working lives – and what to do about it, finds Tom Knowles

Tropical Storm Arthur is the first named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season and will bring heavy rains and potential flash flooding to the Southeast

Why the human brain can't fathom what it means to be a trillionaire

DNA evidence shows that plague bacteria devastated a community in Siberia more than 5000 years ago, challenging the idea that there were no major disease outbreaks before the advent of farming and large settlements

DNA evidence shows that plague bacteria devastated a community in Siberia more than 5000 years ago, challenging the idea that there were no major disease outbreaks before the advent of farming and large settlements

Bird-mounted headsets and backpacks have revealed the surprising things pigeons do with their eyes when on the wing

Bird-mounted headsets and backpacks have revealed the surprising things pigeons do with their eyes when on the wing

By the time we’re born, our brains have all the hardware in place to form thoughts, and possibly even some conscious awareness

By the time we’re born, our brains have all the hardware in place to form thoughts, and possibly even some conscious awareness

By the time we’re born, our brains have all the hardware in place to form thoughts, and possibly even some conscious awareness

By the time we’re born, our brains have all the hardware in place to form thoughts, and possibly even some conscious awareness

On June 17th, much of North America can watch the Moon occult Venus in the daytime sky. All you need are binoculars.

The post See Venus Disappear in Broad Daylight on June 17th appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

Graves of hunter-gatherers in Siberia point to a deadly disease outbreak dating to some 5,500 years ago, a new DNA analysis finds

A study of 140,000 people suggests that a broadening of the diagnostic criteria for autism and ADHD explains the sharp rise in diagnoses, but that doesn't mean too many people are being told they are autistic or have ADHD