Mysterious astronomer who discovered Planet PH2b a Pole?
PR dla Zagranicy
Peter Gentle
27.03.2013 10:50
Astronomers are speculating who the identity is of the person who first tracked the movements of the recently discovered Jupiter-sized Planet PH2b.
image - wikicommons
“Probably the person participating in an online extrasolar planets project who first discovered the planet PH2b is from Poland, but the discoverer remains anonymous,” Prof. Lech Mankiewicz from the Centre of Theoretical Physics in Warsaw has told the PAP news agency.
The person who found the planet is thought to be the same person who uses rafcioo28 as a log in at the Zoouniverse.org social networking site
The Planet Hunters blog, a site for 'citizen astronomers' affiliated to zoouniverse, says that “rafcioo28 […] was the first person to mark a transit [of the planet]”.
"It would be nice to find rafcioo28 and find out what he thinks about the discovery. Others who later identified the planet have given interviews, but rafcioo28 has disappeared without trace,” Lech Mankiewicz says.
The blog says that they yet to be able to contact the mysterious rafcioo28 to tell them that the discovery of the planet has been confirmed.
The planet, a 'gas giant' was discovered in January around a star similar the our own Sun.
The average temperature on PH2b is approximately 46 degrees Celsius, allowing the possibility for water to exist, potentially on a moon.
“This is an extraordinary discovery, as life is possible on one of its moons,” astronomer Al Maddalena has said. (pg)