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Teenager discovers planet during summer internship with NASA

Sunday, 12 January 2020 12:15 AM [ Last Update: Sunday, 12 January 2020 12:21 AM ]

Three days in to his summer internship at NASA, teenager Wolf Cukier discovered a new planet, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration reported on Monday (January 6).

Tasked with reviewing data gathered by TESS ( Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite), 17-year-old Cukier detected what appeared to be an anomaly in the movement of stars within a particular solar system. That deviation, Cukier would later find out was a planet.

"TOI 1338 b" is not your run of the mill celestial body the planet orbits two stars and is what scientists refer to as a circumbinary planet. Most planets orbit one star.

Since discovering "TOI 1338 b" during his summer internship at Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland last year, Cukier has gone on to co-author a paper about the planet with his mentors.

The planet is nearly seven times larger than Earth, according to NASA. "TOI 1338 b" is the first circumbinary planet to be discovered using TESS and is the 13th circumbinary planet identified by NASA.

(Source: Reuters)

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