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| 'Blue Stragglers' (ESA/NASA photo) |
Not that long ago, teenage lads spent their free time fishing for trout.
These days, there are way bigger fish to fry. CNN
reports that 15-year-old intern Tom Wagg, who was undergoing a work experience at Keele University in England, “noticed a tiny dip in the light of a star as a planet passed in front of it.”
Turns out that this planet (as big as Jupiter) had not been discovered before. That’s partly because it’s “1,000 light years away.”
Wagg’s find is in the process of being named. It
currently goes by the label “WASP-142b.” WASP
is an acronym for “Wide Angle Search for Planets,” a Keele University project which “scans millions of stars in night skies.”
Wagg is understandably excited about his “catch.” After
all, it’s not every day that you get to hitch your wagon to a star.
Resources
http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/11/europe/intern-discovers-planet/index.html
Copyright June 13, 2015 by Linda Van Slyke All Rights Reserved
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