Loading video.
VIDEO: CosmoView Episode 20 for press release noirlab2015: Mapping Our Sun s Backyard
Music: zero-project - The Lower Dungeons (zero-project.gr) view more
Credit: KPNO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/P. Marenfeld, International Gemini Observatory/Jacqueline Faherty (American Museum of Natural History)/OpenSpace/Lynette Cook
Astronomers have curated the most complete list of nearby brown dwarfs to date thanks to discoveries made by thousands of volunteers participating in the Backyard Worlds citizen science project. The list and 3D map of 525 brown dwarfs including 38 reported for the first time incorporate observations from a host of astronomical instruments including several NOIRLab facilities. The results confirm that the Sun s neighborhood appears surprisingly diverse relative to other parts of the Milky Way Galaxy.