World News for Students of English

15-06-2015 15:00

He’s got a work experience story to beat all others. Tom Wagg was helping out at Keele University in Staffordshire when he discovered a planet. Yes, a planet!

Tom made the discovery by studying data collected by the Wide Angle Search for Planets cameras located in South Africa. The cameras pick up light from distant stars and occasionally planets pass in front of the stars, causing a tiny dip in the light.

It all happened two years ago when Tom was only 15 and scientists have been trying to confirm the existence of the planet he saw ever since. It’s located about 1,000 light years away and doesn’t yet have a name but a competition has been launched to find one.

Tom said it was a relief to hear his discovery was confirmed and said some of it comes down to luck.

He plans to study physics at university when he finishes school.

Difficult words: tiny (very small), dip (decrease; when there is less of something), existence (if something is real), light year (we use this to measure when something is so far away we measure it by how fast light goes to it) .

Source: www.ondemandnews.com