FP TrendingFeb 02, 2021 09:33:14 IST
Two highschoolers from Massachusetts have helped find four new exoplanets, according to new reports. High school students 12-year-old Kartik Pingle and 18-year-old Jasmine Wright are the second and third authors of the paper outlining the findings published on January 25 in The Astronomical Journal. According to a released by Harvard, the two participated in the research that detailed the discovery of four new exoplanets about 200 light-years away from Earth through the Student Research Advisory Program (SRMP) at the Astrophysics Center at Harvard & Smithsonian (CfA).
According to the report, the SRMP connects local high achievers interested in research with real-world scientists at Harvard and MIT. The whole thing is led by the astrochemist Clara Sousa-Silva.
Speaking about it Sousa-Silva said it is a steep learning curve, saying that by the end of the program, students can say that they have made an active, modern study in astronomy.
An artist who delivers the five-planet system around TOI-1233 introduces a super-Earth (face) that could help unravel the mystery of planetary creation. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech
Sousa-Silva said Pingle and Wright’s performance is rare as high school students rarely get to publish research.
The pair, under the guidance of consultant Tansu Daylan, postdoc at the MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, analyzed and analyzed data from TESS, focusing on TESS Object of Interest (TOI) 1233, a similarly bright star to Sun, narrowing down to TOI-1233 light to see if there were any planets orbiting the star.
Pingle explained that they were looking to see changes in light over time, with the idea that if the planet went over the star, it would cover it up and reduce the brightness of the sun.
The team ended up finding four planets orbiting TOI-1233.
Wright said she was excited and shocked, adding that although they knew it was the aim of the investigation, but a fine on a multi-currency system was very attractive.
According to the news, three of the ‘sub-Neptunes’ planets, or gaseous planets, are smaller but similar to Neptune Milky Way. It takes between six and 19.5 days to move around the star. The fourth is ‘super-Earth’, which is large and rocky, and orbiting in just under 4 days.