A pair of high school students are being praised for making an important astronomical discovery after identifying four new planets orbiting a star about 200 light years from Earth.
What are the details?
The two students, 16-year-old Kartik Pinglé and 18-year-old Jasmine Wright, who both attend schools in Massachusetts, raved about their participation in the discovery and wrote about it in a peer-reviewed article published by the Astronomical Journal last week.
According to a news release published by the Center for Astrophysics, a collaboration between Harvard University and the Smithsonian Institution, the findings may be the youngest astronomers to ever make such an important discovery.
The students made their discovery as part of the CFA’s “Student Research Mentoring Program,” an initiative that matches students interested in research with real scientists who then embark on a year-long project together.
As part of the program, the high school students were selected to work with Tansu Daylan, a postdoctoral fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, to analyze data from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), a satellite orbiting the Earth and nearby bright stars. hoping to discover new planets.
The team focused on a nearby sun-like star called TESS Object of Interest 1233 to see if any planets orbited around it.
“We were looking for changes in light over time,” Pinglé explains of the study. “The idea is that if the planet passed or passed in front of the star, it would [periodically] cover the star and reduce the brightness. “
While investigating the star, the students hoped to discover at least one planet, but to their surprise, they eventually found four.
“I was very excited and very shocked,” Wright said of the discovery. “We knew this was the purpose of Daylan’s research, but actually finding a multiplanetary system and being part of the discovery team was really cool.”
According to the research paper, the three outer planets are considered “sub-Neptune,” or gaseous planets smaller than but otherwise similar to our solar system planet of the same name, while the inner planet is considered a “super-Earth.” because of its large size and rockiness.
What else?
The program director, Clara Sousa-Silva, noted that Pinglé and Wright’s achievement is rare.
“Although [it] is one of the goals of the SRMP, it is highly unusual for high school students to co-author magazine articles, ”she said in the press release.
Daylan added that it was a “win-win” to partner with Pinglé and Wright and make an important discovery
“As a researcher, I really enjoy dealing with young brains that are open to experimentation and learning and with minimal bias,” he said. “I also think it is very beneficial for high school students as they are exposed to cutting edge research and this quickly prepares them for a research career.”
According to the press release, Pinglé, who is just a junior in high school, is considering studying applied mathematics or astrophysics after graduating, while Wright has been admitted to a five-year master’s degree in astrophysics at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.