High school students – 16-year-old Kartik Pinglé and 18-year-old Jasmine Wright – have discovered four new exoplanets about 200-light-years away from Earth. This multi-planetary system includes a rocky ‘super-earth’ and three ‘sub-Neptunes’ orbiting around a bright sun-like star. This rocky planet and the similarity of the host star (HD 108236) to our Sun, makes it perfect to study planetary evolution. Read more for a video and additional information.
NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) space telescope found these celestial bodies, as it was designed specifically to search for exoplanets. When compared to our solar system, the four planets orbit extremely close to their host star (3.8 days, 6.2 days, 14.2 days, and 19.6 days respectively), while in comparison, our solar system’s innermost planet, Mercury, takes 88 days while Neptune takes 165 years to complete one orbit around the sun.
- Powerful refractor telescope: The Celestron AstroMaster 70AZ is a powerful and user-friendly refractor telescope with fully coated glass optics, a sturdy yet lightweight frame, two eyepieces, a red dot finder scope, and an adjustable-height tripod.
- High-quality 70mm optics: Our Celestron telescope features a powerful, fully coated 70mm glass optic objective lens. Erect image optics allow you to observe celestial objects at night and terrestrial targets like wildlife and landscapes during the day.
- Quick setup & lightweight frame: This telescope for adults features a lightweight frame and a panning handle with Alt-Az control for smooth and accurate pointing. Setup is quick and easy, with no tools required.
- Included accessories: We’ve included two eyepieces (20mm and 10mm), an erect image star diagonal, a travel tripod, and a red dot finder scope. Download our BONUS Starry Night Basic Edition astronomy software for interactive sky simulation.
- Unbeatable warranty and customer support: Buy with confidence from the world’s No 1 telescope brand, based in California since 1960. You’ll also receive a 2-year warranty and unlimited access to technical support from our team of US-based experts.
As a researcher, I really enjoy interacting with young brains that are open to experimentation and learning and have minimal bias. I also think it is very beneficial to high school students, since they get exposure to cutting-edge research and this prepares them quickly for a research career,” said Tansu Daylan, a postdoc at the MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research.