2:00-2:30 pm

Astronomy is moving into an era of big data, like much of the rest of the world. The large amounts of data coming in requires innovative methods of analysis, including citizen science, crowdsourcing analysis with volunteers outside the astronomical community. In 2014, DiskDetective.org launched with the goal of identifying new circumstellar disks in the AllWISE catalog via citizen science. Citizen scientists have been thoroughly integrated throughout the project, from website-based classifications to collection of astronomical observations, illustrations for NASA press releases, and co-authorship of scientific journal articles. This talk presents an overview of the project, and several discoveries, including the identification of “Peter Pan” disks, long-lived accretion disks that suggest a longer-than-expected timescale for planet formation around low-mass stars.