New exoplanet PH2 b is the second for citizen science project PlanetHunters.org

Artist's impression of exoplanet PH2 b

Tens of thousands of people are contributing to online citizen science projects.

And it would be a rare individual who wouldn't admit to a secret hope to one day be one of the people to discover a new type of galaxy (www.GalaxyZoo.org), unravel an ancient mystery (www.ancientlives.org), or find a new planet around a distant star. And that is just what has happened for people working on www.planethunters.org.

For the second time, PlanetHunters has announced a new exoplanet. Designated PH2 b, this find is a Jupiter-sized planet, in the so-called Goldilocks zone where atmospheric temperatures of 42 degrees make water viable—except for it being a gas giant... It's orbiting a star that is similar to our sun, and goes by the memorable name of KIC 12735740.

This brings the confirmed exoplanet total to 854, with three in 2013 already.

In addition, PlanetHunters has announced they have another 42 exoplanet candidates undergoing validation processes, including 15 in the habitable zone.

The paper has been published on arxiv.org and commentary is on the PlanetHunters website.

The Exoplanet smartphone app allows you to follow such developments, long before it gets picked up by mainstream media.

Citizen science projects such as PlanetHunters allow volunteers around the world to contribute to real science, and scientists to leverage the innate human ability to detect patterns in data that computers have failed to find.

Some other astronomy-based citizen science projects include as Vesta Mappers, Moon Mappers, and Mercury Mappers.