Backyard Worlds: Planet 9

Some astronomers think there may be a large planet at the fringes of our solar system - a world they call Planet Nine.

Join the hunt for new planets and planet-like objects called "brown dwarfs" near the Sun! This long-running project has discovered more than 3800 new brown dwarfs and published dozens of scientific papers.

Go to Project Website

ages

18 and up

division

Astrophysics

where

Online

launched

2017

What you'll do

Examine images of the sky taken by NASA's WISE mission, and search them for moving objects.
Report your findings by clicking on them or---for a faster response—use the Think-You've-Got-One form (read about how that works here).
Connect with other scientists and volunteers.
More than 40 volunteers have become co-authors of published scientific papers through this project!

Requirements

Time to get started: ~15 Minutes to complete online training.
Equipment: Internet connected mobile device or computer
Knowledge: None. In-project tutorial provided.

Get started!

Visit the project website.
Click “Get Started” and complete the Tutorial to learn the basics.
Find Worlds: Examine “flipbooks” of images to distinguish real moving objects in space from ghosts and other artifacts.

Learn More

Join the Zooniverse Talk to learn from peers and scientists.

Get to know the Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 Team and some of the people who have contributed.

Image shows the relative sizes of Earth (very small in bottom right corner), Jupiter (with a diameter is 11.5 times larger than Earth with visible stripes), a Brown dwarf (slightly larger than Jupiter and bright red with stripes), and a low-mass star (roughly twice the size of the Brown Dwarf). A fifth celestial body, far larger than the Low Mass Star, is partially visible in the upper left of the image.

Illustration of the relative sizes of low mass stars, brown dwarfs, Jupiter (a gas giant), and Earth.

Two star-dotted images of space sit side-by-side, one labeled “January 23, 1930” and the second “January 29, 1930.”. A small white arrow is visible in each image, in a different place, pointing out a small light spot - Pluto - that has moved from one image to other.

There’s still no substitute for the human eye when it comes to recognizing subtle motions in astronomical images. This pair of images - one from Jan 23, 1930 and one from Jan 29 1930 - show the movement of Pluto.