Scientists have just free 20 old age ' worth of high - precision star datum , which has led to the discovery of 100 new exoplanet candidates . But many more could be hiding in the data and the research worker are skip to get a helping hand from citizen scientist .

The information lot , presented in theAstrophysical Journal , includes almost 61,000 measurements for 1,638 whiz and covers two decades of measurements .

“ This is an awing catalog , and we realized there just are n’t enough of us on the squad to be doing as much science as could come out of this dataset , ” Dr Jennifer Burt , from MIT , said in astatement . “ We ’re strain to tilt toward a more residential area - point idea of how we should do science , so that others can get to the datum and see something interesting . ”

The squad has made the measurements useable to download on theirwebsite . To analyze the data ( and hopefully discover something ) you will have to download and employ the subject reservoir softwareSystemic . Do n’t interest , the squad has provide atutorialon how to use it .

The datum looks at the stellate speed of the star , an indirect technique that use modification to the spectrum of lighter to estimate if a planet is there or not . The light of the star slightly changes as the planets make it wobble . It ’s not a foolproof method and scientists   have to take into account many possible variable before claiming a espial .

“ We were very conservative in this newspaper publisher about what calculate as an exoplanet candidate and what does not , and even with our tight criteria , we found over 100 new probable planet candidates , ” co - writer Mikko Tuomi of the University of Hertfordshirestated .

One of the fresh purport planets orbits GJ 411 , the fourth close star to the Sun . The major planet around it is not really an Earth - twin . It is almost four time as massive as our satellite and it orbits the star , which is 40 percent the mass of the Sun , in just nine days .

The information was collected by HIRES , an tool install on the Keck - I telescope , which is located atop Mauna Kea in Hawaii .

" HIRES was not specifically optimized to do this character of exoplanet detective work , but has turn out to be a workhorse instrument of the field , " added Steve Vogt of the University of California , Santa Cruz , who built the legal instrument . " I am very felicitous to contribute to science that is fundamentally changing how we view ourselves in the universe . "

This is not the first citizen science labor on exoplanet lookup . Planter Hunter , a Zooniverse   project , has used datum from Kepler and K2 , and citizen scientist have already discovered a new globe using that .

But this is another chance to get involved , whether you are a scientist or a space - lover , who does n’t want to chance upon a planet ?