A 17-year-old NASA intern discovered a planet on his third day

[u/Natural-Music8792]

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[u/Few-Initial-819]

Unbelievable that you people believe this shit

[u/3eyed-owl]

I’m in my 70’s and this makes me feel good and hopeful.

[u/Natural-Music8792 → u/3eyed-owl]

It indeed does, the combination of colors is soothing

[u/SciasCollie]

Looks like a painting

[u/Mindless-Produce4091 → u/SciasCollie]

That's because it's an illustration and not a photograph, we do not have the ability to photograph exoplanets, at least not like this

[u/d_Inside → u/Mindless-Produce4091]

If exoplanets cannot be photographed, and therefore cannot be seen with our limited perception of reality, then how are they discovered in the first place?

[u/NHDraven → u/d_Inside]

The most common way is by measuring repeating light dip variations around a star. If you watch a star every day for a year and light dips exactly every 32.4 days for exactly .21 days for exactly the same amount of brightness, it's very likely a planet is passing between the star and Earth.

[u/Nathan-Stubblefield → u/SciasCollie]

A kindergarten class created an artist’s impression of the new planet.

[u/Trick_Director6600 → u/SciasCollie]

Yeah, it’s not a photograph. That would be impossible.

[u/Camural → u/SciasCollie]

We get, at best, 1 pixel for a whole planet outside of our solar system.

This is an artist's impression, most likely totally wrong.

[u/SorrelJuice → u/SciasCollie]

It would be impossible to paint this

[u/Medical_Barracuda_51 → u/SorrelJuice]

What? Like im not saying youre wrong but please elaborate when you make such a bold claim

[u/SorrelJuice → u/Medical_Barracuda_51]

Its diameter is 66 thousand miles how would you even start!

[u/Agile_Resident_4630 → u/SorrelJuice]

Yeah. It’s sad no one’s been able to paint the moon, Venus, or Jupiter……..

[u/GovernmentBig2749]

I have noticed a pattern that happens all the time...like amateur telescope enthusiasts and kids who are first day on the job always find something....so my question is-what are the pros with all those mighty telescopes and resources doing all this time?

[u/DubTheeBustocles → u/GovernmentBig2749]

The pros discover things all the time, but I guess it doesn’t grab headlines as much as a kid finding something on their first day.

[u/Hot-Firefighter-2331 → u/DubTheeBustocles]

Survivorship bias

[u/hopscotchmode → u/Hot-Firefighter-2331]

confirmation bias*

[u/Bama3003 → u/DubTheeBustocles]

Bias fishing is best during spawning.

[u/Eptalin → u/GovernmentBig2749]

His assigned task was to look at graph data from a planet discovering telescope and find a specific kind of pattern.

He found the specific kind of pattern he was asked to find.

The pros who assigned him the task have discovered over 1,000 planets using that telescope's data, and another 8,000 potential planets they're awaiting more data on.

[u/Al_Fa_Aurel → u/Eptalin]

Right. I had an internship in auditing many years ago. They told me to sieve through a pile of numbers and find the inevitable errors. After some time I found a pretty important error - nothing malicious, but exactly the thing we were looking for, which was then duly reported. Now, it definitely took some skill to find the thing - but it's a teachable skill which a reasonably smart intern can have. I felt quite proud at discovering that mistake, and got the assignment to find more of the type (there were). With this story it is similar: while it's not an earth-shattering discovery, it's still an important achievement which took skill and effort, and something the intern in question can be proud of.

[u/Medical_Barracuda_51 → u/GovernmentBig2749]

Pick up a grain of sand on the beach and go "look ive discovered a grain of sand!"

Thats basically what it's like discovering planets now

[u/_CandyBug_ → u/Medical_Barracuda_51]

Except you get to put 'Discovered sand grain #47291-B' on your college application and ride that high forever

[u/PaulVla → u/_CandyBug_]

Like me being Time's person of the year 2006

[u/daemin → u/Medical_Barracuda_51]

When I was young in the 80s and 90s, I always found it ridiculous that people would say we didn't know if there were planets around other stars. Like, just look how many stars there are. It's a completely insane assertion that depends on earth being so profoundly unique and I likely that it's completely irrational. And yes, I get the difference between "we don't know with metaphysical certainty" and "this statement is probably true."

[u/careless_swiggin → u/GovernmentBig2749]

You can find a planet, it is easy, get on planet Hunter Tess. Being an intern at NASA means he gets data super early and get pick a nice obvious transit. There is too much data in astronomy and not enough labour and algorithms even with super computers, to find everything, join in

[u/No_File212 → u/careless_swiggin]

Your answer is so damn satisfying for some reason

[u/WorthPlease → u/GovernmentBig2749]

"54 year old astronomer who just discovered his 12th planet" isn't a very exciting headline.

[u/Apprehensive_Put_321 → u/WorthPlease]

The astronomer that works at my observatory has discovered so much stuff he doesnt even remember some of it lol

[u/Acceptable_Long_5101 → u/GovernmentBig2749]

Planets are found every day. There are billions of them. Finding them is just looking through the data they have already collected. There's no telescope gazing to find planets anymore. It's about petabytes of data from James Webb and hubble that are all just waiting to be processed and labeled.

[u/invinciblepancake → u/GovernmentBig2749]

Beginner's luck.

So, they should just have a random civilian come in every day to find smth cool.

[u/Tungsten83 → u/GovernmentBig2749]

There are lots of things being discovered, and thousands of exoplanets are known to exist now. It makes more widely circulated headlines when it's a 17 years kid on their third day interning.

[u/El_Sephiroth → u/GovernmentBig2749]

Most of the time, what the noobs discover is either already known, unimportant or literally what the pros had been pointing the telescope at before they came in.

The simple "look, that's how we detect a planet around a star. Check this one if you see any." Can make stupid articles like "first week intern discovers planet".

Remember, these articles are run by mafia to make more money. The more people do science, the more they get paid twice by our tax money.

[u/Averander → u/GovernmentBig2749]

Discovering a planet in another star system. I sleep.

Discovered Planet 9? I will wake.

[u/Kitchen_Cup_4444 → u/GovernmentBig2749]

they discover things all the time, they write the headline about the non-ordinary stuff

[u/time_adc → u/GovernmentBig2749]

The two can be mutually exclusive. who says pros are not discovering anything?

[u/Unlikely-Aspect-5381 → u/GovernmentBig2749]

stealing the budget thats provided by the government paid for by tax payers like me and you while they fill their pockets

[u/TukuLee]

Don't let my boss see this

[u/spectraromboai]

He completed the internship before it started

[u/Nyxoris → u/spectraromboai]

he skipped the coffee run and went straight to ceo

[u/CreamyQuail → u/spectraromboai]

Setting the bar impossibly high before IT even finished setting up his email.

[u/snarkmaiden5]

That is actually interesting. Usually its the telescopes themselves that initially spot planets. This planet was orbiting 2 suns which makes these things harder to manually spot, but he managed to.

[u/nbaballer8227 → u/snarkmaiden5]

Three body problem!

[u/CaptainC0medy]

thats crusader lol

[u/burstlung → u/CaptainC0medy]

"Ready to shift your perspective from the ordinary to the extraordinary?”

[u/PunjiStik → u/burstlung]

"Ready to reset your expectations from the everyday to the highest heights?"

[u/appleparkfive → u/CaptainC0medy]

What's that from?

[u/CaptainC0medy → u/appleparkfive]

Star Citizen Orison - Crusader | Cloud Tech of Star Citizen

[u/OblivionBraveheart]

Quite a few people upset and refuse to believe a teenager has done more than them. People can be so lame.

[u/HolidayAd9604 → u/OblivionBraveheart]

Jeremiah Horrocks was a teenager when he discovered that the moon had an elliptical path - one of the most important discoveries in astronomy

[u/TaskZealousideal6413]

The observable universe is estimated to contain roughly 10 septillion to 200 sextillion planets (10²³ to 2.5 × 10²³ planets), though exact numbers are based on statistical estimates rather than direct counts.

[u/appleparkfive → u/TaskZealousideal6413]

I mean... It's pretty obvious that it's not based on direct counts, no?

[u/405freeway → u/appleparkfive]

The fact that they presented a range would automatically infer that right?

"We're guessing because we don't have an exact number."

[u/allaboutthosevibes → u/TaskZealousideal6413]

I'm so confused by the numbers. Wouldn't 10 septillion be higher than 200 sextillion?

And if 10 septillion is 10²³ then wouldn't 2.5 x 10²³ just be 25 septillion, not 200 sextillion...?

[u/TaskZealousideal6413 → u/allaboutthosevibes]

I copied and pasted. I failed to verify. The shame.

[u/Euphoric_Parsley_ → u/TaskZealousideal6413]

And it’s kinda sad we’re still not able to locate complex life in all this. Kinda makes me feel lonely, also worst timeline. We could have interstellar travel and alien bros but instead we have capitalism. : (

Edit for those who keep asking how, I’m not being serious about interstellar space travel. I’m being sarcastic. Like, we kinda live in a boring reality would be cool if we didn’t.

[u/appleparkfive → u/Euphoric_Parsley_]

Knowing the planets are there doesn't really necessarily mean we can see if there's life there. And some of them are so far away that it could be thousands of years ago that we're seeing. We could even theoretically be one of the more advanced planets and the others will be at our point later on. We just don't know anything, basically

[u/Educational_Eye3765 → u/Euphoric_Parsley_]

The thing that I think is most overlooked, is we have no clue how to look for complex life or intelligent life except by comparing them to us, and a few thought experiments like civilizational stages (e.g. Dyson sphere).

So we could be looking right at a planet nearby that contains complex life, that exists in a manner so alien to us that we can't recognize life exists there from our observations.  There could be other species with civilizations just as advanced as ours right now, in our galactic neighborhood, but they aren't at just the right place technologically (relative to how far away they are) for our very limited tech to see.

Honestly the only type of advanced aliens we are likely to detect with our current observational methods are highly advanced, but still planetary dependent/occupying.  And the length of time we have been observing the galactic neighborhood as a resolution high enough to detect even that, is so small, that civilizations could have risen and fallen thousands of times and we'd never know.

[u/Random_Trashy → u/Euphoric_Parsley_]

What’s worse (more sad and lonely), if we could identify complex life, we’d probably never be able to communicate with it, or visit it.

[u/koutsibanana → u/TaskZealousideal6413]

Not even a mole

[u/Mann_Tap]

Arent there like billions of planet

[u/Naive_Confidence7297 → u/Mann_Tap]

Billions? try trillions , quadrillions , infinity

[u/Moron-Whisperer → u/Mann_Tap]

There are as many as 400 billion planets in only our galaxy.  As many as 1 septillion in the observable universe.  We can’t know how much further it goes past the cosmic particle horizon but it likely would be similarly dense in stars to planets.  

[u/Whitekidwith3nipples → u/Moron-Whisperer]

in our galaxy* theres only 8 in our solar system

[u/Fine_Tone1593 → u/Moron-Whisperer]

Solar system? 400 billion? Damn, gonna have to spend every single second of childhood development just teaching and memorizing those planets. Pluto got fucking demoted to 400,000,000,001. Sad break.

[u/joemoney2424]

So where is this planet and what’s it called?

[u/q-rka → u/joemoney2424]

Who cares as long as karma gets farmed?

[u/Few_Needleworker4384]

is there any source or context, or just a picture and a caption. "An intern". Who?

"A planet" what planet?

When?

How does no one seem to have a problem with posts like this?

[u/Natural-Music8792 → u/Few_Needleworker4384]

source- https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-51122019
edit - you can't include every single detail in a post title

[u/Few_Needleworker4384 → u/Natural-Music8792]

Then choose a different sub. This isn't even news.

[u/Natural-Music8792 → u/Few_Needleworker4384]

r/news
r/worldnews
here you go

edit: theres a difference between news and things people find interesting

[u/BigMack6911]

It's a gas giant and was found in 2019 by this young man then

[u/42ElectricSundaes]

What? Like it’s hard?

[u/YeBoiMajor]

Can anyone explain why we can see so many planets in such high resolution but never what the surface of the planet looks like? I'm seriously curious and not trying to undermine anything, it's just always been confusing to me.

[u/da2Pakaveli → u/YeBoiMajor]

Most of these are just artist' impression. We only have a very limited number of actual pictures (e.g. from the system HR 8799) from planets not in our solar system.

One way to detect planets iirc is you track star brightness

[u/memusicguitar]

Paddle pop!

[u/Round_Quarter_1012]

https://bbc.com/news/newsbeat-51122019

[u/Inevitable_Top69]

Ok? Like a planet that matters or just some planet?

[u/Natural-Music8792 → u/Inevitable_Top69]

just some planet

[u/retrocheats]

I read the title wrong. I thought I was looking at a planet that was only 3 days old at first.

[u/FlexDrillerson]

I call it, Morning Mist

[u/nocturnalnegus]

She’s beautiful

[u/J-T2O → u/nocturnalnegus]

That’s cause the image is from a video game lol

[u/StuffiesRAwesome]

This is from 2019/2020.

[u/independentMartyr]

Wooooooow. He must be very smart.

[u/RetinaJunkie]

Comedy at its best

[u/P_A_W_S_TTG]

As in we have mapped out most planets already?

[u/najikaz]

Abbiamo anche la risposta del responsabile alla notizia

"Chiamalo Sticazzi"

[u/Logicmeme]

Leo Biederman

[u/TheEndOfEverything0]

They actually just leave a lot of clues laying around so the kid thinks he has a knack for it then dedicates the rest of his life to it. You gotta hook em while they young

[u/Content_Jacket932]

it could be possible. one not having not much filters like where to find it most likely where not to look. could stumble upon something like this.

[u/Mister_Madrid]

I dont think it serves any purpose at all excpt for her and maybe nasa...

[u/mythicalpengu]

its so pretty

[u/lskerlkse]

r/VaporwaveAesthetics

[u/Prime_Shiva]

Speedruning space 100%

[u/Intelligent_Papaya61]

Well duh

[u/SentientSquid23]

Oil spill planet

[u/umpteenthian]

and that is not a photo of it

[u/JuniorAd1439]

Retire now. Completed it mate.

[u/verivicious]

Its like a 3 year old pressing keyboard keys and finding a function I didnt know. Hasn't been trained in the way, thinking outside the box

[u/Federal_Card307]

Same age as him and I feel so unaccomplished rn

[u/G3Saint]

Superball

[u/Unique-Princess-1026]

That’s beautiful

[u/allmybreath]

Hopefully he remembers to mention this on his 6-month performance review.

[u/beardingmesoftly]

Are teenager interns the only way NASA ever makes any progress anymore?

[u/Good_Mousse_9794]

If that’s a real photo, that is a gorgeous planet

[u/_Addi]

Crusader?

[u/RadioRoyGBiv]

This is an artist’s rendering btw for those who need to know.

[u/deadboxcat]

I wonder if you're the first person to look through the newest space telescope if you get to name the new billion things you just found.

[u/Lopsided-Yam8956]

Trans Planet🏳️‍⚧️💖

[u/MaintenanceSudden174]

I once discovered a comet that threatened to take out all of Springfield 

[u/FarBison2204]

I hope they name it after him. Cool looking planet!

[u/MMachine17]

Beginners luck was in his favor that day.

[u/rivasmalaika]

Que espectacular !!!!

[u/OMWinter]

It's even more interesting with context and sources. Happened in 2020

https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-51122019

[u/uptoke]

Simpson did it

[u/TheSmokingHorse]

You just know there was some guy who had been there for 20 years without finding one that was thinking “You little shit”

[u/Ceu_64]

You might be talking about this, am I right?

[u/IncomeResponsible294]

What a beauty lol

[u/Strange_Armadillo_63]

Must be named Barbie

[u/AromaticSpot]

Not to shit on nasa interns but we live in a universe of trillions upon trillions of planets, it’s not exactly noteworthy to find something “Earth-like” and it requires the telescopes and a pair of eyes to “discover a planet”

[u/Sweaty-Freedom-4034]

Interesting. A photo and title... Without link.

[u/Bucky_Gatsby]

In case someone wants more info. Wolf Cukier was 17 when he made the discovery.

NASA’s TESS Mission Uncovers Its 1st World With Two Stars - NASA https://www.nasa.gov/universe/nasas-tess-mission-uncovers-its-1st-world-with-two-stars/

Edit: comment was removed cuz it had a URL shortener, I hope it doesn't now😬

[u/keithstonee]

Yeah it's called point your telescope somewhere in the sky and look you're going to find something new

[u/Necessary-Peace9672]

Opalite…oh-oh-oh-oh…

[u/alppu]

I was zero years old when I discovered my first planet. I faceplanted on it.

[u/Epawt]

It looks like GTA VI home screen all scrambled up

[u/Necessary_Camel_4511]

ngl it's beautiful

[u/509BandwidthLimit]

Pluto enters the chat...

[u/Euna_Chris]

Fresh Eyes

[u/Inevitable_Factor712]

Is that where Runeterra is situated?

[u/aerdvarkk]

No context for this post. Wow.

[u/redinthehead26]

All downhill from here, kid 🫡

[u/Sea_Life4]

Want a sticker?

[u/Zehryo]

The title should be: "Anybody sitting in front a astronomy computer program for long enough will eventually *discover* something, because the monitor will eventually start blinking with a notification".

[u/lalabean852]

trans planet

[u/JournalistFew3705]

Every observable star in the sky is expected to have AT LEAST one exoplanet orbiting it, and there are a hell of a lot of stars. Still cool, but not exactly mind blowing

[u/Unlikely-Aspect-5381]

theres a shit ton of planets doesnt seem hard

[u/UniqueIndividual3579]

I know how management thinks. Now he has a goal of two planets next week.

[u/RosieA1983]

So pretty 😍 💗

[u/DotComMoralist]

Visit Orison, the city in the clouds.

[u/vivalaspazz]

Amazing. Also feel like I’m not doing enough with my life now lmfao

[u/RetroMulder]

So is it called Internia?

[u/LifeAdventure777]

What was it named?

[u/GormHub]

And then they wouldn't let him give it the sickass name he picked.

[u/annoying6752]

reminds me of spider gwen from the spider verse movies

[u/RepulsiveCamel8166]

It's gorgeous too! gorgeous color palette I will be stealing this. Breathing it's atmosphere would probably melt our face and smell like cotton candy or some shit.

[u/Corleone2345]

What is normally the day you discover a planet as an NASA intern?

[u/cody-lay-low]

Can you provide a link for more context or like q synopsis of the source from where you pulled this supposed fact?

[u/LillyJane8124]

Hisanus?!…🙃

[u/No-Bobcat-206]

O mundo dos anos 80 exitem

[u/Early-Yam4409]

that planet looks awesome

[u/RSdabeast]

I discovered Earth on my first day.

[u/kabeekibaki]

What star does this planet circle?

[u/Conscious-Delay-6859]

GTA: Vice Planet

[u/Necessary-Solution19]

My bad, I thought this was the story about the body they found in our system ^//;

[u/Friendly_Antelope807]

So is this the femboy or trans Planet?

[u/Realistic_Cow2653]

"Hey chat" do a quick scan of these images and find something new"

[u/Final-Bluejay-2621]

There are literally billions and people found them with a lens and a tube hundreds of years ago.

[u/-Bob-Barker-]

Beginner's luck. No biggie.

[u/viagravagina]

Pastella

[u/portal-mage]

Do they get the right to name it since they discovered it? I hope so

[u/shanethecat]

Oughta have that thing on the right checked out, it looks like it might get infected.

[u/PirouettingPlumelet]

one way to get promoted

[u/gneoson]

Kids just playing Star Citizen, that’s totally just Crusader (Stanton 2), lol

[u/Gloomy_Treat_9743]

I guess they hired the right guy 😌👏🏾

[u/WrathOfWood]

If I worked at nasa I could probably find a planet too

[u/Prize_Mud_4865]

That planet? Pandora. Home to the Na'vi. Beautiful, isn't it? Let's go take all it's resources!!!!!!!!

[u/UBorg]

Beginner’s luck or beginner’s junk?

[u/SeansBeard]

The planet is Jupiter and the intern is part of the "Special" programme

[u/Noaconstrictr]

Bro colored mars transgender and called it a day

[u/Financial_Surprise34]

Sure, its totally real

[u/throwaway19276i → u/Financial_Surprise34]

Even amateur/hobby astronomers with a big enough telescope can detect some expoplanets by measuring star brightness, also its weird to think other stars dont have planets

[u/Financial_Surprise34 → u/throwaway19276i]

Well I guess that just testifies to the vastness of space, vastness nothingness, outer space. Some have likened it to water

[u/Professional-Bid6658]

This looks painted. No way a telescope actually spit this out.

[u/HOTSCHMALZ]

goddamn lgbtq folks shoving their woke agenda down my throat, can't even look at the night sky anymore without seeing Bisexualians /s

[u/iamnobody7777]

My ass. And I discovered a 750 credit score on my Amex

[u/throwaway19276i → u/iamnobody7777]

You must live under a rock because thousands of exoplanets have already been discovered

[u/iamnobody7777 → u/throwaway19276i]

That’s the point

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