Hi there! How the heck are you? As always, it's a delight to see you. Glad you could drop in out of cyberspace today and, speaking of space, as soon as you fill your mug with coffee and nudge a virtual treat onto your plate, I'll tell you about an amazing discovery...
(CNN)Advice to
interns: work hard and make your mark. And if you can discover a new planet
while you're at it, you could also be pushing the boundaries of our knowledge.
Believe it or not, a 15-year-old boy did just that,
according to Keele University in England, UK. While undertaking work
experience at the university, Tom Wagg noticed a tiny dip in the light of a
star as a planet passed in front of it -- that planet had supposedly not been
on anyone's radar until then. The university said it has since taken two years
to verify his findings.
"I'm hugely excited to have a found a new planet,
and I'm very impressed that we can find them so far away," Tom said,
according to a statement from the university. He apparently spotted the planet
by scouring the data collected by Keele University's WASP (Wide Angle Search
for Planets) project, which scans millions of stars in night skies and searches
for tiny dips, or transits, caused by the passing of planets.
The above picture is an artist's impression of WASP-142b
orbiting its star.
Nameless for the time being, the new planet has been
labeled with the catalog number WASP-142b, as it's the 142nd discovery by the
WASP collaboration.
Invisible to the naked eye and 1,000 light years away,
the planet is the same size as Jupiter, the largest planet in the solar system,
but orbits its star in only two days. Such frequent orbits make such planets
easier to find -- if you can describe the feat as easy.
After the discovery of the planet, astronomers at the
University of Geneva and the University of Liege confirmed that it had the
required size and mass to be identified as a planet. And the university is
planning a competition to find a name.
A star student at a nearby school and a science enthusiast,
Wagg had requested the work experience after learning that Keele University had
a research group studying extrasolar planets, or exoplanets -- planets that
exist around stars other than the sun.
According to NASA, the first exoplanet was spotted in 1995
and 5,000 have been discovered ever since. The space agency says on its website
that such findings provide hope in finding another
Earth.
Well how about that. Advise all your kids and grandkids to stay in school and, who knows, maybe they will do something exciting such as discover a new planet and/or become famous. You won't do that serving burgers and fries at your local fast food restaurant!
See ya, eh!
Bob
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