Slashdot Mirror
How a Guy Found 4 New Planets Without a Telescope
An anonymous reader writes "Peter Jalowiczor is a gas worker from South Yorkshire, England. He's also the discoverer of four giant exoplanets, according to the University of California's Lick-Carnegie Planet Search Team. But he's not an astronomer and he doesn't even have a telescope. '...in 2005, astronomers at the university released millions of space measurements collected over several decades and asked enthusiasts to make of them what they would. ... From March 2007 Peter, 45, spent entire nights reading the data, working the figures, creating graphs. ... He then sent discrepancies he discovered back to the scientists in California where they were further analyzed to see if the quirks were caused by the existence of an exoplanet.'"
Yo! astronomers. Sure it's sexy to have a telescope that is bigger than everyone else. Sure, it looks cool to be perched under the eyepiece. But when a gas company worker puts you to shame by (gasp!) reviewing data that was relegated to the "uncool" pile as you eagerly pen the next grant application, I have to wonder:
Maybe we are spending too much money on some of these astronomers! Maybe scientists need to be a little more frugal and review the data already collected. After all, when Albert Einstein came to Princeton all he asked for was some pencils, paper, and a waste paper basket.
The university "found it". He just pointed it out in their data.
No sig for you!!