NASA | Disk Detective: Search for Planetary Habitats

Mark Kushner, a NASA researcher, discusses the quest to discover exoplanets and the role of protoplanetary and debris disks in this process. He highlights NASA's WISE mission, which scanned the infrared sky to find new disks. Due to the subtlety of clues, human evaluation is necessary, leading to the launch of Disk Detective, a citizen science project. Participants help classify images to identify disks, aiding future telescope targets like Hubble and James Webb. The project aims to produce publishable scientific results and invites public participation.

What has been a major focus for astronomers over the past 30 years?

• Studying the sun's solar flares

• Analyzing black holes

• Mapping the Milky Way galaxy

• Discovering exoplanets and understanding their formation

What did NASA's WISE mission primarily achieve?

• Studied the rings of Saturn

• Mapped the surface of Mars

• Scanned the entire infrared sky and captured imagery

• Explored the moons of Jupiter

Why can't computer software alone identify stars with disks from WISE data?

• The clues are too subtle for software to detect

• The data is too large to process

• The software is outdated

• The disks are too far away

What is the main goal of the Disk Detective project?

• To create a new telescope

• To explore the ocean depths

• To produce publishable scientific results

• To train new astronomers

How can the public contribute to the Disk Detective project?

• By classifying objects on diskdetectives.org

• By donating money

• By attending workshops

• By writing scientific papers