Madrid /
Kartik Pinglé, 16, and Jasmine Wright, 18, co-authored a paper in Astronomical Journal about him the discovery of 4 new exoplanets 200 light years from our panel, which has similar characteristics to Neptune and Earth; being maybe the youngest who made such a discovery.
American high school students participated in research through the Research Student Mentoring Program (SRMP) at the Harvard & Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, led by astrochemist Clara Sousa-Silva, SRMP connects local high school students who are interested in research -Scientists at Harvard and MIT.
“It’s a steep learning curve,” says Sousa-Silva, “but it’s worth it.” “By the end of the program, students can say they have done active, state-of-the-art research in astrophysics.”
Pinglé and Wright’s particular achievement is rare. High school students rarely publish research, says Sousa-Silva. “Although this is one of the goals of SRMP, it is very unusual for high school students to be co-authors of magazine articles.” They may be the youngest astronomers to make another discovery.
How did young people discover the planets?
Under the guidance of mentor Tansu Daylan, a postdoctoral fellow at MIT’s Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, students studied and analyzed data from the Transit Exoplanet Study Satellite (TESS). TESS explores the bright stars nearby with the ultimate goal of discovering new planets.
The team focused on TESS Object of Interest (TOI) 1233, a bright Sun-like star nearby. To sense if the planets were orbiting the star, they turned on the light from TOI-1233.
“We tried to see light changes over time,” explains Pinglé. “The idea is that if the planet transits the star or passes in front of it, [periódicamente] it would cover the star and diminish its brightness. “
To the team’s surprise, they discovered not one, but four planets orbiting TOI-1233.
“I was very excited and very surprised,” says Wright. “I knew this was the goal of Daylan’s research, but finding a multiplanetary system and being part of the discovery team was very interesting.”
Solar system-like planets
Three of the planets are considered “subneptunes,” gaseous planets that are smaller but similar to Neptune in our own solar system. Each takes between 6 and 19.5 days to orbit the TOI-1233.
The fourth planet is labeled “super-Earth” because of its large, rocky size; orbit the star in just under four days.
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