Polish discoverer of Planet PH2b revealed
PR dla Zagranicy
Peter Gentle
28.03.2013 08:05
The Pole who first tracked the new planet PH2b is Rafał Herszkowicz, a computer programmer and amateur astronomer from Zgierz, just north of the city of Lodz, central Poland.
Rafał Herszkowicz: photo - PAP/Grzegorz Michałowski
Since discovering the Jupiter-sized planet in January, Rafał Herszkowicz has only been known by his nickname rafcioo28, on the astronomy social networking site odkrywcyplanet.pl, part of the international planethunters.org.
Fellow astronomers were anxious to know the identity of rafcioo28, as the discovery is thought to be one of the most significant in recent years.
But now the 33 year-old Rafał Herszkowicz has come forward to stake his claim to the discovery.
“I was the first to track it,” Rafał has told Polish Radio of the planet 1200 light years away from Earth in the so-called 'habitable zone', meaning that it could sustain life.
Planet PH2b orbits a sun-like star in the constellation Cygnus.
After the first tracking of the new planet, confirmed by other amateur astronomers from the Planet Hunter network, set up by Oxford and Yale universities, the results were published in the prestigious Astrophysical Journal.
The planet is a 'gas giant' meaning it is not solid. But one of its moons could sustain life, scientists believe. (pg)
source: IAR