USQ PhD student finds new planet
Star-gazer makes unbelievable discovery
USQ PhD student Kelvin Getley has made a ground-breaking discovery.
While star-gazing for hours on end and living a dream set in motion by his grandfather at a young age, Mr Getley, working with an Australian Astronomical Observatory (AAO) astronomer, stumbled across the newest planet in our solar system.
The exoplanet is said to be more reminiscent of Pluto than other planets in our solar system.
The newly-discovered entity has a mass 7.7 times bigger than Jupiter, something the Victoria native never dreamt he would find.
“The idea was to look for bodies or anything we couldn’t see,” Mr Getley said.
“The ultimate goal was to find a planet but we weren’t expecting to actually find one.”
Mr Getley’s uncovering is unique in terms of what we know about the universe.
His observation concluded that the planet actually orbits the stars on a tilt - a first in the field of astronomy.
“This is the first example of a planet orbiting in such a way,” he said.
“Hopefully this is the first of many discoveries and helps us understand how planets are formed.
“It’s a step along the road to knowledge.”
While many would be falling off their chair, Mr Getley remained calm in the face of what was a “eureka” moment.
“When I first saw the results I was excited but still quite cautious,” he said.
“I didn’t want to say that I had found this thing before it had been confirmed.
“Now that we have it published it is really exciting.”
For Mr Getley, the path to his discovery was paved as a five-year-old.
The spark was lit by his grandfather who gave the budding whiz-kid a deluge of astronomy books to read growing up, flooding his mind with stories of the solar system that would, years later, inspire him to break huge barriers in the field.
“He (grand dad) was very interested in astronomy and had shelves and shelves of books,” he recalled.
“Every day I would pick up a book and I have been hooked since who-knows-when.”
While Mr Getley won’t have first dibs on naming rights, he did have a suggestion for his amazing discovery.
“There’s always the appeal of ‘planet Kelvin’ but I haven’t really though about it that much,” he said.
❝ There’s always the appeal of ‘planet Kelvin’ but I haven’t really though about it that much.
— Kelvin Getley