British schoolboy discovers planet 1,000 light years from earth
Although credited with the discovery, Tom Wagg has not been allowed to name the planet he discovered.
A British schoolboy working with an astrophysics professor has discovered a new planet 1,000 light years from earth.
Newcastle-under-Lyme student Tom Wagg was 15 when he went for his work placement at Keele University, where he spotted a minuscule dip in the light from a faraway star that he knew could be caused by a planet passing in front of it.
Wagg kept in touch with the university's Prof Coel Hellier while the potential planet was analysed by scientists from the universities of Geneva and Liege.
Two years later, the 17-year-old got the call confirming his discovery was indeed a new planet - a large gas planet with similar properties to Jupiter in the southern constellation of Hydra. Its characteristics mean it is very unlikely to support any form of life.
Although credited with the discovery, Wagg has not been allowed to name the planet he discovered, which will be decided by competition entries coordinated by the International Astronomical Union.
The new planet has been temporarily termed Wasp-142b, because it is 142nd discovery by the Wide Angle Search for Planets (Wasp) project.