These teens had just turned their star.
Two Massachusetts alumni are recommended to discover a major astronomy – discovering four new planets outside our Solar System.
Kartik Pinglé, 16, and Jasmine Wright, 18, helped confirm the existence of the exoplanets and recently published a scientific paper on their findings.
“I was thrilled and amazed,” Wright said of the discovery.
To conduct the research, the duo was clearly paired with a real-world scientist as part of the Student Research Counseling Program at the Astrophysics, Harvard & Smithsonian Center.
The students then worked with their consultant, Tansu Daylan, a postdoc at the MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, on a year-long project.
They began by analyzing piles of data from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), a space-based satellite that orbits the Earth and studies nearby bright stars in hopes of discovering new planets.
The team focused on a bright sun-like star that saw TESS – called TOI-1233 – to see if planets orbiting it.
To their surprise, the group discovered four planets orbiting the star, which is about 200 light-years away from Earth.
“We knew this was the goal of the Daylan study, but of course it was possible to find a multi-financial system, and be part of the discovery team,” Wright said.
Teenagers are probably the youngest astronauts of such a discovery, according to astronaut Clara Sousa-Silva, who is leading the counseling program.
Thanks to a partnership with the City of Cambridge, students were given four hours per week to complete the research.
“They are salaried scientists,” Sousa-Silva said.
“We want to encourage them that pursuing an academic career is enjoyable and rewarding – whatever they pursue in their lives.”
Last week, the peer-reviewed paper written by the Daylan students was published in “The Astronomical Journal” last week.
Daylan said working with the young researchers was a “win”.
“As a researcher, I enjoy interacting with young brains that are open to experimentation and learning and have the least bias,” he said.
“I also think it’s very beneficial for high school students, as they have advanced research experience and this prepares them quickly for a research career. ”
Students have a bright future ahead of them – Pinglé, a youngster, is considering studying applied mathematics or astronomy after graduation, while Wright was recently accepted into an astronomy program at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.