A couple of high school students are praised for making an important astronomical discovery after identifying four new planets in orbit around a star about 200 light-years away from Earth.
What are the details?
The two students, Kartik Pinglé, 16, and Jasmine Wright, 18, both of whom attend Massachusetts schools, were elated to participate in the discovery and wrote about it in a peer-reviewed paper published by the ‘Astronomical Journal last week.
According to a press release on the news published by the Center for Astrophysics, a collaboration between Harvard University and the Smithsonian Institution, the finding may make them the youngest astronomers to have made such an important discovery.
The students made their discovery as part of the CFA’s “Student Research Tutoring Program,” an initiative that combines students interested in research with real-world scientists who then together embark on a one-year project.
As part of the program, high school students were selected to work alongside Tansu Daylan, a postdoctoral researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who analyzed data from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), a satellite · Orbit that orbits the Earth and inspects nearby bright stars. hoping to discover new planets.
The team focused on a star near the Sun called TESS Object of Interest 1233 to perceive if the planets were in orbit around them.
“We tried to see light changes over time,” Pinglé explained regarding the investigation. “The idea was that if the planet passed the star or passed by, it would [periodically] it covers the star and diminishes its brightness “.
While studying the star, the students had wanted to discover at least one planet, but to their surprise they ended up finding four.
“I was very excited and very shocked,” Wright said of the discovery. “We knew that was the goal of Daylan’s research, but finding a truly multi-planetary system and being part of the discovery team was a lot of fun.”
According to the research paper, the three outer planets are considered “sub-Neptunes” or gaseous planets that are smaller than the others on the planet of the same name, but similar to our solar system, while the innermost planet is considered a ” super-Earth “. for its large size and rocky.
What else?
The show’s director, Clara Sousa-Silva, noted that Pinglé and Wright’s achievements are rare.
“Although [it] is one of the goals of the SRMP, it is very unusual for high school students to be co-authors in journal articles, ”he said in the press release.
Daylan added that it was a “win-win” to work alongside Pinglé and Wright and make an important discovery.
“As a researcher, I really enjoy interacting with young brains open to experimentation and learning and with minimal bias,” he said. “I also think it’s very beneficial for high school students, as they have exposure to cutting-edge research and that quickly prepares them for a research career.”
According to the press release, Pinglé, who is still a high school student, is studying applied mathematics or astrophysics after graduating, while Wright has been accepted into a five-year master’s program in astrophysics at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.