My project was is “NASA’s Background Worlds: Planet 9”
I think the Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 project is pretty cool. It’s all about regular people helping NASA search through loads of space pictures to find new stuff like hidden planets or weird stars. It’s a fun way for anyone to get involved in space exploration and maybe make some big discoveries.
The researchers involved in the Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 project primarily come from the fields of astronomy, astrophysics, and planetary science. They provide expertise in analyzing astronomical data, understanding celestial objects like brown dwarfs, and predicting the existence of planets beyond Neptune based on gravitational effects. Additionally, they contribute to the development and maintenance of the project’s infrastructure, such as managing the data from NASA’s WISE mission and coordinating with citizen scientists to classify celestial objects accurately.
Citizens play a big part in the Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 project. They help NASA go through tons of space pictures and spot anything that’s moving, like new planets or stars. Their job is super important because they help scientists find cool stuff in space that might otherwise get missed.
The Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 project monitors data from NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) mission. This mission collects images of the sky in infrared light, revealing faint and cool objects like brown dwarfs and distant planets. The project’s website explains that volunteers visually inspect these images to identify moving celestial bodies, helping to distinguish real objects from artifacts like ghosts and sensor noise. This monitoring process involves citizen scientists combing through the data by eye, contributing to the search for new discoveries in the outer regions of our solar system.
The researchers keep an eye on this data to find new stuff in space, like hidden planets or cool stars. It helps them understand more about what’s out there in our solar system and beyond.
The Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 project benefits society by involving regular people in space exploration and learning. This not only sparks interest in science but also could lead to practical uses, like helping us understand space better for future missions or even learning more about how our own planet formed.