Artist's impression of one of this study's superlative discoveries, the oldest known wide-separation white dwarf plus cold brown dwarf pair. The small white orb represents the white dwarf (the remnant of a long-dead Sun-like star), while the brown/orange foreground object is the newly discovered brown dwarf companion. This faint brown dwarf was previously overlooked until it was spotted by citizen scientists because it lies right within the plane of the Milky Way. How complete is our census of the Sun's closest neighbors? Astronomers and a team of data-sleuthing volunteers participating in Backyard Worlds: Planet 9, a citizen science project, have discovered roughly 100 cool worlds near the Sun -- objects more massive than planets but lighter than stars, known as brown dwarfs.

Earlier this year, NASA launched a tool that would allow everyday citizens to join the search for alien worlds. Now, the space agency has confirmed there's already been a discovery. Observations with NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility in Hawaii have confirmed that an object spotted by four different users just days after the tool became available is, in fact, a'new cold world' just 100 light-years from the sun. The tool allows users to track moving objects in digital'flipbooks,' using observations from NASA's Wide Field Infrared Survey (WISE) spacecraft. To search for undiscovered worlds, visit the Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 website.

NASA has launched a new website that will allow anyone to join the search for alien worlds. The site, called Backyard Worlds: Planet 9, contains footage from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) mission, which produced the most comprehensive survey of the entire sky at mid-infrared wavelengths to date. This means members of the public can participate in the potential discovery of planets and other objects at the edge of our solar system and in neighbouring interstellar space. NASA has launched a new website that will allow anyone to join the search for alien worlds. To search for undiscovered worlds, visit the Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 website.