--- title: Astronomy: 15-Year-Old Intern Discovers New Planet description: Tom Wagg discovered planet WASP-142b, which is about the size of Jupiter, while an intern at Keele University. canonical: https://time.com/3918673/intern-new-planet-tom-wagg-keele-university-wasp-142b/ author: Rishi Iyengar article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-06-12T08:26:30.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:41:13.683Z article:section: Science og:title: 15-Year-Old Intern Discovers New Planet og:description: What's your excuse? og:url: https://time.com/3918673/intern-new-planet-tom-wagg-keele-university-wasp-142b/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltea0c3a8b88a752da/698854343c1639c093458549/wasp_142_high.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3307 og:image:height: 1860 og:image:alt: wasp_142_high og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 15-Year-Old Intern Discovers New Planet twitter:description: What's your excuse? twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltea0c3a8b88a752da/698854343c1639c093458549/wasp_142_high.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # So a 15-Year-Old Intern Has Discovered a New Planet. 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Future Proof is TIME's weekly climate and energy newsletter, written by senior correspondent Justin Worland. It connects the energy transition to the decisions reshaping business, technology, policy and markets. #### Where can I follow the energy transition as a business story? Future Proof covers climate and energy as an economic and business story rather than only an environmental one. It publishes every Friday and is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who writes Future Proof? Justin Worland, a senior correspondent at TIME and an award-winning climate journalist, writes Future Proof. #### Is Future Proof free? Yes. Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: TIME Explains: The Most Distant Galaxy in the Universe [Watch (HLS stream): TIME Explains: The Most Distant Galaxy in the Universe](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/9OCmo1zS.m3u8) (1:42)  _Published 2013-10-28. What does it mean for a galaxy to be the most distant galaxy disovered? The numbers are staggering—here's what you need to know_ by [Rishi Iyengar](https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar Jun 12, 2015 8:26 AM UTC  An artist's rendition of the new planet, named WASP-142b. An artist's rendition of the new planet, named WASP-142b. Keele University by [Rishi Iyengar](https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar Jun 12, 2015 8:26 AM UTC Internships are important. They provide you with a glimpse into the real world, valuable work experience and, if you’re lucky, eventual employment. And if you’re really, really lucky — and eagle-eyed, like Tom Wagg — you get the [credit for discovering a planet](http://www.keele.ac.uk/pressreleases/2015/work-experienceschoolboydiscoversanewplanet.html) previously unknown to astronomy. Wagg came across the planet at Keele University in the U.K., when he spent a week there as part of a “work experience” stint that high school students can opt for. While analyzing data from the university’s Wide Angle Search for Planets (WASP) computer program, the then 15-year-old intern noticed a dip in the light of a distant star (1,000 light-years away), indicating an orbiting planet passing in front of it. It took two years of further observation to verify that his finding was really a planet. “I’m hugely excited to have found a new planet, and I’m very impressed that we can find them so far away,” said Wagg, now 17, on Thursday. For now, the new planet — which is about the size of Jupiter — is called WASP-142b, as it is the 142nd planet to have been discovered by the WASP system, but Wagg is reportedly looking forward to sending in his suggestion for a name when the time comes. ### Snapshots of the Heavens: Amazing Astronomy Photos  The aurora borealis traces the shifting patterns of the Earth's magnetic field, creating a spectacular midwinter show in Nordland Fylke, Norway. The green light in this image comes from oxygen atoms high in the atmosphere, which have been energized by subatomic particles from the solar wind. Arild Heitmann  Part of the Veil Nebula, the Witch's Broom is the glowing debris from a supernova explosion. It's what's left over after the violent death of a massive star. Although the supernova occurred several thousand years ago, the gaseous debris is still expanding outwards, producing this vast cloud-like structure. Robert Franke  Dark mountain peaks frame two distinct lightscapes - the distant glow of towns and villages, and the majestic star fields of The Milky Way. Making the most of an August night, the photographer got this shot after trekking out to the Uludag National Park near his hometown of Bursa, Turkey. Tunc Tezel  Galileo's Planetary Puzzle Has Finally Been Solved Laurent Laveder  The Elephant's Trunk seems to uncoil from the dusty nebula on the right of the image, its tip curled around a cavity carved out by the radiation produced by young stars. Capturing a deep sky object like this takes skill and painstaking attention to detail and is a great achievement for a newcomer to astrophotography. Lóránd Fényes  This long-exposure image contrasts the regular arcs of star trails with the chaotic swarming of fireflies - celestial, natural and manmade light are captured in a single photograph. Michael A. Rosinski  The photographer came across two hikers lost in the wilderness of Yosemite late one evening in July 2011\. He captured this image of the tiny figures in a small bubble of torchlight set within a vast, pitch black forest beneath the immense dome of the sky. It highlights the wonder, beauty and awe of astronomy. Steven Christenson  A beautifully sharp and artfully framed detail of the Moon. The terminator which separates the daytime and night-time parts of the Moon is aligned with the bottom edge of the photograph. The Sun's light shines at a low angle onto the surface of the Moon just above this line, showing the contrast between smooth maria and rugged crater rims to the best advantage. Jacob Marchio  Earth and space are evenly weighted in this wonderfully framed image of a Californian landscape beneath the Milky Way. The young photographer has chosen a view of an ancient bristlecone pine which is over 4,000 years old, and whose sloping trunk and gnarled branches provide perfect counterpoint to the edge-on view of the starry disc and knotted structure of our galaxy. Thomas Sullivan  Taken in Nagano, Japan, this image shows Orion, Taurus and the Pleiades as the backdrop to an eerie frozen landscape. Though the stars appear to gleam with a cold, frosty light, bright blue stars like the Pleiades can be as hot as 30,000 degrees Celsius. Masahiro Miyasaka ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] What does it mean for a galaxy to be the most distant confirmed galaxy in the universe? The numbers are staggering. Here's what you need to know. [ NOISE ] [ MUSIC ] It's official name is Zagnd5296, but it's better known as the most distant galaxy ever discovered. A light year is the distance light travels in on e year, which comes out to 9. 4605284 times ten to the 15 meters. In simpler terms, it's about 9. 5 trillion kilometers, or about 6 trillion miles. Multiply that by 30 billion. And that's how far away ZAGND5296 is, and what exactly is the galaxy? It's a collection of stars that's part of the structure of the universe. The incredible distance between us and that farthest away galaxy means that we are just now seeing what it was like 13 billion years ago. Because that's how long it took for the light from the galaxy to reach telescope's sensors. It's so far away, that it required two of the world's most powerful telescopes for astronomers to make observations. The Hubble Space Telescope, and the Keck Telescope. We can treat this galaxy like a fossil, something that gives us a glimpse of the evolution of galaxies. It's a hint of what the universe was like at the young age of 700 million years old, a mere five percent of it's current age which is estimated to be 13. 8 billion years. Some notable things about this particular galaxy include a tiray of producing stars, and a shroud of hydrogen gas surrounding it, which scientists haven't found in the modern universe. We'll learn more about this galaxy with the introduction of the next generation James Webb space telescope in 2018, which will have more than 17 times the light gathering power of the Hubble. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3918673/intern-new-planet-tom-wagg-keele-university-wasp-142b/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3918673/intern-new-planet-tom-wagg-keele-university-wasp-142b/"},"headline":"So a 15-Year-Old Intern Has Discovered a New Planet. 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