Amateurs with Claude + Codex claim discovery of a new dwarf planet in public telescope data
willdepue · x · 2026-11-12
- Discovery: willdepue, @joshuawolk and @LukeFarritor mined public telescope data with Claude + Codex credits and claim a new dwarf planet — about 1/4 the width of Pluto, orbiting twice as far out (well past Neptune), likely the 50th largest object in the solar system; confirmation is underway.
- Irony: the object sat unnoticed in public images for over a decade, and the team says far more is findable this way.
- Grant program: willdepue announced a $100,000 grant for amateur astronomy research.
- Bigger picture: astronomer mjuric, in the quoted RT, argues astronomy's old gates (costly telescopes, closed teams, institutional access) are gone — sky-scale public data plus AI-supercharged analysis means "millions of people now have the skills, tools, and data to do real science, no permission needed," while academia's AI adoption lags disturbingly.
Related event: AI-assisted Discovery: New Dwarf Planet Candidate Found with Claude(4 posts)→
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