Teen discovers planet just three days after joining NASA
If you thought that just adding an extra fact to the report could earn you brownie points, you have got some competition. This 17-year-old intern discovered a planet just three days after joining NASA! Now who has a job waiting for them after they finish college? We would say this guy whose name is Wolf Cukier.
Three-day wonder
He completed a practice at NASA in the summer of 2019 . The young man had to study changes in the brightness of stars with the TESS space telescope. Just three days into his internship, Cukier discovered a new planet.
His discovery
Wolf discovered planet named TOI 1338 b. This planet is roughly 6.9 times larger than Earth, or “between the sizes of Neptune and Saturn.” Due to its positioning around the two stars it orbits, TOI 1338 b experiences regular solar eclipses. By NASA’s estimates, the planet is in a stable orbit for at least the next 10 million years.
What’s TESS
The TESS telescope was launched in April 2018 and is designed to search and study exoplanets. It is equipped with four cameras, each of which takes a picture of a portion of the sky once every half an hour.
Fun Fact
NASA has a program for dealing with life on other planets and if it should be discovered. It is known as the Office of Planetary Protection. A “waterworld” is also discovered by NASA which is about 40 light years away from the earth and might contain some exotic materials like hot ice and superfluid water.
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