In an astonishing turn of events, a high school junior from New York has made a groundbreaking discovery while interning at NASA. The teenager, identified as Jamie Thompson, stumbled upon an entirely new planet during his time at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
Jamie, who is just 17 years old, was tasked with analyzing data related to the brightness of stars as part of his internship. While engaged in this work for the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite mission (TESS), he noticed an unexpected dimming in one of the stars from a distant system located approximately 1,300 light-years away from Earth. This dimming turned out to be a planet that measures 6.9 times the size of Earth, orbiting not one but two stars—a phenomenon known as a circumbinary planet.
“I was examining the flagged data for eclipsing binaries, where two stars orbit around each other, creating a pattern of eclipses from our perspective,” Jamie explained in a NASA press release. “After just three days into my internship, I detected a signal from a system labeled TOI 1338. Initially, I assumed it was a stellar eclipse, but the timing didn’t match up. That’s when I realized it was a planet.”
The newly named TOI 1338 b is significant as it marks the first circumbinary planet discovered by TESS. Detecting such planets is particularly challenging since they revolve around two stars instead of one, as Earth does. To put this into perspective, when a planet transits in front of its star, it results in a temporary decrease in the star’s brightness—a phenomenon captured by TESS’s advanced cameras. However, TESS can only observe transits of planet 1338 b as it passes by the larger star, making detection even more complex.
Veselin Kostov, a research scientist at the SETI Institute and Goddard, noted, “These signals are often tricky for algorithms to interpret. The human eye excels at recognizing patterns, especially non-periodic ones like the transits we observe in these systems.” It is remarkable that human observation can surpass technology in certain scientific endeavors. Jamie initially mistook the dimming for one star obscuring another, but upon further analysis, he recognized it as a planet.
Jamie expressed his enthusiasm to continue his studies in astronomy and remains in contact with his NASA mentors. Those interested in the latest insights into home insemination and fertility can check out this informative post. For comprehensive resources on artificial insemination, visit this site.
In summary, Jamie Thompson’s extraordinary discovery of a new circumbinary planet during his internship at NASA exemplifies the potential for young minds to contribute to scientific advancements. His journey inspires future generations to explore the realm of astronomy and beyond.
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