Amateur Aussie Astronomer Helps Find New Planet

A new planet has been discovered, thanks to the assistance of amateur Perth astronomer Thiam-Guan Tan.

According to ABC News, the new planet is “about the size of Jupiter” and is hanging out 500 light years away from Earth, outside our solar system, next to a small, sun-like star called HATS-6.

Imaginatively, this discovery has been christened HATS-6b, despite being way bigger. Typical second-child treatment. Good luck living in that shadow, kid.

A team of international scientists from the Australian National University, Princeton and the Max Planck Institute were responsible for locating the “puffy” HATS-6b (meaning the planet is large, but not dense).

However, they’ve credited Perth’s backyard stargazer Thiam-Guan Tan for being instrumental in the discovery.

“It’s a stretch for our resources to try to follow up these 1,000 potential planet candidates, so we enlist the help of amateur astronomers,” said George Zhou of the ANU Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics.

“TG monitored the transit of HATS-6b for us, and actually confirmed that it’s really a planet around another star.”

Your typical story of local heroes, nailing it, intergalactically.

Artist's rendition of HATS-6b provided by ANU.