Cosmoview Episode 47: Citizen Scientist Leads Discovery of 34 Ultracool Dwarf Binaries Using Archive at NSF’s NOIRLab (VIDEO)

Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA)

Caption

How often do stars live alone? For brown dwarfs — objects that straddle the boundary between the most massive planets and the smallest stars — astronomers need to uncover more examples of their companions to find out. Ace citizen scientist Frank Kiwy has done just that by using the Astro Data Lab science platform at NSF’s NOIRLab to discover 34 new ultracool dwarf binary systems in the Sun's neighborhood, nearly doubling the number of such systems known.

Credit

Images and Videos: International Gemini Observatory/PROGRAM/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA, S. Brunier/Digitized Sky Survey 2, E. Slawik, J. da Silva (Spaceengine), NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Scott Wiessinger Image Processing: T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage/NSF’s NOIRLab), M. Zamani (NSF’s NOIRLab) & D. de Martin (NSF’s NOIRLab) Music: Stellardrone - A Moment of Stillness

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