NASA: 17-year-old intern discovers a planet orbiting two suns

The "Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS)" went into operation in 2018 and is intended to help discover stars outside our solar system. The cameras are aimed at around 200,000 stars in the area. This number alone illustrates the huge amounts of data that are involved. So far, however, experience has shown that humans are significantly better than algorithms when evaluating the images. That is why, at NASA, 17-year-old intern Wolf Cukier was entrusted with this task. However, this was not easy. Because distant planets can only be identified indirectly. That is, whenever they are between the camera and the star they are orbiting. In these cases, there is a shadow or a darkening on the image.

The newly discovered planet is 1,300 light years away
In addition, the following also applies: Not every dark spot is a new planet. Instead, it must first be verified whether the obscuration was not triggered by a known object. Cukier also initially assumed that the dark point he had discovered was triggered by a second star nearby. However, calculations clearly showed that the time sequences did not fit. Instead, it turned out that the newly discovered planet orbits two stars. It is also around 1,300 light years from Earth and is located in the constellation Painter, which is not visible from Earth. It orbits the two nearby stars within 93 and 95 days respectively. The name of the newly discovered planet, on the other hand, is not very spectacular: it was called "TOI 1338 b".

There are similarities to Luke Skywalker's home planet Tatooine
Behind this is a fixed system, according to which all planets discovered with the help of TESS are named. However, the work has already paid off for Cukier: he was co-authored in a scientific essay on the discovery of the planet. An important academic reference that interns are unlikely to take with them. His discovery also caused a sensation in the global Star Wars community. Because "TOI 1338 b" orbits two suns and therefore experiences two sunsets every day - exactly like on Luke Skywalker's home planet Tatooine. Anyone who has now felt like going in search of new planets does not have to apply directly for an internship at NASA. Because the “Planet Hunters TESS” project focuses on volunteers from all over the world.