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Most schoolkids on work experience do well to find the photocopier, but Tom Wagg proved to be a real star pupil after discovering a new planet 1,000 light years away.

The avid astronomer was spending a week at Keele University's astrophysics department when he was asked to take a look over some data from an international space project.

And the keen eyed teen soon spotted evidence of a tiny dip in the light of a star caused as the mystery planet passed in front of it.

Now two years on, 17-year-old Tom has finally had his findings officially confirmed after astronomers in Switzerland and Belgium carried out further analysis and observations.

It makes the student from Westlands, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, one of the youngest people ever to find a new planet.

(Image: David A. Hardy)

The phenomenon is located far, far away in our galaxy - in the southern constellation of Hydra - and is orbiting a star. Sadly, it cannot be seen directly through a telescope

Tom said: "It's really exciting. I was amazed. It's definitely something you can tell people about."

"I'm hugely excited to have a found a new planet, and I'm very impressed that we can find them so far away.

"It's a gas planet and is known as a 'hot Jupiter'. As it's so close to a star, there could be other planets around it."

Tom was just 15 years old when he did the initial work experience at Keele and has since been back to do more there.

Now his planet has been catalogued as WASP-142b as it is the 142nd to be discovered by the WASP project.

(Image: Getty)

The WASP (Wide Angle Search for Planets) consortium also involves scientists from the Universities of Warwick, Cambridge and St. Andrews, working with scientists in Switzerland, France and Belgium.

Tom describes star-gazing as almost like "looking in back in time" as the stars are so far away from Earth.

His interest in astronomy dates back many years and he got his own telescope when he was seven.

It was while Tom was studying for his GCSEs that one of his teachers recommended he approach Keele to get a greater insight into the subject.

The teenager soon found himself looking at data collected through surveys of the night skies, where millions of stars were being monitored.

"The WASP software was impressive, enabling me to search through hundreds of different stars, looking for ones that have a planet," said Tom.

"I was initially looking at the light curve when I noticed it. I spoke to staff at the university and they said it looked interesting."

Tom who achieved 12 GCSEs, all at A*, including GCSE astronomy as an extra subject, is now partway through his A-levels. He hopes to study physics at university and either go into astrophysics or particle physics for a career.

Tom's physics teacher Andy Fishburne, from Newcastle-under-Lyme School, said: "Tom has always read a lot and done a lot of his own studying around physics. He's ultra-keen."

Not surprisingly astronomers at Keele have also been impressed. Professor Coel Hellier, who leads the WASP project.

He said: "Tom is keen to learn about science, so it was easy to train him to look for planets."

Astronomers worldwide have now found over 1000 extra-solar planets. Though the planet does not yet have a name, the International Astronomical Union has started a contest to name extra-solar planets.

Now Tom is looking forward to making a suggestion for his planet's name.