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The First Brown Dwarf Discovered by the Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 Citizen Science ProjectThe Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) is a powerful tool for finding nearby brown dwarfs and searching for new planets in the outer solar system, especially with the incorporation of NEOWISE and NEOWISE Reactivation data. However, so far, searches for brown dwarfs in WISE data have yet to take advantage of the full depth of the WISE images. To efficiently search this unexplored space via visual inspection, we have launched anew citizen science project, called "Backyard Worlds: Planet 9," which asks volunteers to examine short animations composed of difference images constructed from time-resolved WISE co adds. We report the first new substellar object discovered by this project, WISEA J110125.95+540052.8, a T5.5 brown dwarf located approximately 34 pc from the Sun with a total proper motion of approx.0. "7/ yr. WISEA J110125.95+540052.8 has a WISE W2 magnitude of W2 = 15.37+/- 0.09; our sensitivity to this source demonstrates the ability of citizen scientists to identify moving objects via visual inspection that are 0.9 mag fainter than the W2 single-exposure sensitivity, a threshold that has limited prior motion-based brown dwarf searches with WISE.
Document ID
20170007835
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Kuchner, Marc J.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Faherty, Jacqueline K.
(American Museum of Natural History New York, NY, United States)
Schneider, Adam C.
(Arizona State Univ. Tempe, AZ, United States)
Meisner, Aaron M.
(California Univ., Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. Berkeley, CA, United States)
Filippazzo, Joseph C.
(Space Telescope Science Inst. Baltimore, MD, United States)
Gagne, Jonathan
(Carnegie Institution of Washington Washington, DC, United States)
Trouille, Laura
(Adler Planetarium Chicago, IL, United States)
Silverberg, Steven M.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Castro, Rosa
(Änggårdsvägen 47 Nol, Sweden)
Fletcher, Bob
(Lambert School North Hobart, Australia)
Mokaev, Khasan
(Kabardino-Balkarian State Univ. Nalchik, Russian Federation)
Stajic, Tamara
(Belgrade Univ. Serbia)
Date Acquired
August 18, 2017
Publication Date
March 24, 2017
Publication Information
Publication: The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Publisher: The American Astronomical Society
Volume: 841
Issue: 2
ISSN: 2041-8205
e-ISSN: 2041-8213
Subject Category
Astrophysics
Report/Patent Number
GSFC-E-DAA-TN45486
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other
Keywords
Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE)

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