“Space…
the final frontier…” (YouTube video) Star Trek introduction
So what does a British utility worker (an “astronomical enthusiast”) have in common with the University of California, Santa Cruz?
FOUR new planets, that’s what! The newly discovered planets are called: HD31253b, HD218566b, HD177830c, and HD99492c!
A British utility worker named Peter Jalowiczor, who DOES NOT OWN A TELESCOPE, used two home computers and a lot of his spare time over three years, to analyze data released by the University of California’s Lick-Carnegie Planet Search Team in Santa Cruz, California!
Jalowiczor is not an “academic slouch,” however. He does have a couple of college degrees. Jalowiczor used Doppler spectroscopy to find planets that are too far away to be located by telescopes. As he described his process to The Daily Mail:
“I look for faint changes in stars’ behaviors that can only be caused by a planet or planets orbiting about them. Once I identify likely candidates, I send the details back to Santa Cruz.”
Dude (or “Dudette”), if I were a likely candidate, that is where I would want MY details to GO! 
Of course the trick is:
“If a planet orbits a star it causes a tiny wobble in the star’s motion and this wobble reveals itself in the star’s light.”
“Star light, star bright….” Thank you Peter, for taking the time to grind through the data and enrich our understanding of the universe!
-Bill at
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