Disk Detective
Some stars are surrounded by disks - vast spinning clouds of gas, dust, and chunks of rock where planets form and evolve. NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) mission collected images of more than two billion objects. Now scientists need your help finding which of these objects are stars with disks.
This long-running project discovered the Peter Pan disk phenomenon. Peter Pan disks are a kind of disk that retains gas far longer than most. More than 14 volunteers have become named coauthors of published papers through this project.
Ages
Ages 18 and up
division
Universe
where
Online
launched
2014
What you'll do
- View images of stars taken by multiple telescopes.
- Examine the images for background sources of light or other interference that might mimic light from a disk.
- Connect with scientists and other citizen scientists to research good disk candidates in greater depth.
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.
- Learn: Click “Get Started” and complete the tutorial to learn how to recognize debris disks.
- Look for disks: Start looking for debris disks by comparing multiple images of the same star taken with different telescopes.
Learn more
Join the Disk Detective Talk forum to learn from peers and scientists. When you've done 300 classifications, email diskdetectives@gmail.com and ask to join the advanced user group.
Get to know the people of Disk Detective!
