There are billions of planets in our galaxy, and a hot, Neptune-sized planet orbiting an ordinary star called SPH10066540 might not seem unusual, but there's a catch. It was discovered by Chris Holmes, from Peterborough, England (who does not have even a telescope), with only "a passing interest in where things are in the sky." Holmes found the planet while looking through data on Planet Hunters, a popular citizen science project that lets ordinary people help scientists navigate through readings from NASA's Kepler telescope.
The response from BBC Stargazing viewership has been amazing! We have over 100,000 unique visitors to the Planet Hunters website since the start of the first broadcast on Monday. With volunteers participating in the UK and around the world (see where our classifications came from), weve completely shattered our goal of 250,000 classifications during BBC Stargazing, crossing 1 million classifications before the last broadcast even started! Read more
The public push initiated on BBC Two's Stargazing Live series to find planets beyond our Solar System has had an immediate result. A viewer who answered the call has helped spot a world that appears to be circling a star dubbed SPH10066540. The planet is described as being similar in size to our Neptune and circles its parent every 90 days. Chris Holmes from Peterborough found it by looking through time-lapsed images of stars on Planethunters.org. Read more