Backyard Worlds discoveries in 3D

This three-dimensional rendering showcases the trove of nearby cold brown dwarfs discovered by citizen scientists participating in the Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 project, co-founded by NOIRLab researcher Aaron Meisner. The Sun is at center, and each brown dwarf appears as a colorful orb at its present day Galactic location. Redder colors correspond to colder temperatures, with the innermost shell of deep red (extremely cold) discoveries representing the hundred newly published worlds. Green circles lie in the plane of the Milky Way, and are spaced at intervals of 5 parsecs (roughly 15 light-years). Over the course of many millions of years, these moving objects that are near to the Sun today will disperse throughout the Milky Way.