NOIR Lab - Elusive Cloud Forming Chemicals Found On “The Accident”

The 365 Days of Astronomy

Astronomers have long predicted that the cloud forming chemical should be found in the atmospheres of brown dwarfs and gas giants. Silane had eluded detection until now. In this podcast, Dr. Aaron Meisner recounts how silane was discovered in the atmosphere of a brown dwarf nicknamed “The Accident”. The Accident (WISEA J153429.75-104303.3) was discovered by citizen scientist Dan Caselden, who was using an online program he built to find brown dwarfs in NEOWISE data.

Bios:

Rob Sparks is in the Communications, Education and Engagement group at NSF’s NOIRLab in Tucson, Arizona.

Aaron Meisner is an astronomer at NSF NOIRLab affiliated with the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, and also a 2025-2026 Radcliffe Fellow at Harvard University. He specializes in building astronomical maps using large data sets at visible and infrared wavelengths. These maps are used to search for moving celestial objects, like new neighbors to the Sun and hypothesized planets in the far reaches of our own solar system. To this end, Aaron co-founded the popular Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 citizen science project and the Backyard Worlds: Cool Neighbors project.

Press release: https://noirlab.edu/public/news/noirlab2526/?nocache=true&

https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/pia24578-an-accidental-discovery/

https://aasnova.org/2021/07/02/observing-the-accident-an-enigmatic-brown-dwarf/

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