Two new gaseous planets found by citizen scientists

 Two new gaseous planets have been found orbiting a sun-like star 352 light-years from Earth -- and citizen scientists helped discover them while collaborating with astronomers.

The two exoplanets, which are planets that orbit stars outside of our solar system, are called planet b and planet c. They orbit a star known as HD 152843, which has a similar mass to our sun but is 1.5 times bigger and brighter.

Their discovery was published earlier this month in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Planet b is similar in size to Neptune and about 3.4 times larger than Earth. It completes one orbit around the star every 12 Earth days. The outer planet, planet c, is 5.8 times bigger than our planet, which makes it a sub-Saturn. It has an orbit between 19 and 35 Earth days.

For comparison, if both planets were located in our solar system, they would closely orbit the sun.

Citizen scientists were able to help discover these planets by participating in Planet Hunters TESS. This NASA-funded project, available on the Zooniverse website, includes more than 29,000 people around the globe. It allows people to help search for exoplanets using data from NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or TESS mission.

The planet-hunting satellite launched in April 2018 and so far, the mission team has identified more than 100 exoplanets and discovered over 2,600 planet candidates that need to be confirmed.

Volunteer citizen scientists use publicly available TESS data to search through graphs that showcase the brightness of stars that the satellite has observed, called light curves. If any of these stars show a dip in brightness, it could suggest that a planet has passed in front of the star during orbit, which is called a transit.

If multiple people submit the same light curves, an algorithm collects them for researchers to analyze. This way, they have exoplanet candidates they can follow up on. It helps to have human eyes on these light curves because computers aren't always able to correctly identify potential planets because it's easy to mistake other phenomena for planets.

Carl Nassib of Las Vegas Raiders is first active NFL player to announce he is gay

 Carl Nassib, a defensive lineman with the Las Vegas Raiders, became the first active NFL player in league history to announce that he is gay.

"What's up, people," Nassib said Monday in a video on Instagram. "I'm Carl Nassib. I'm at my house here in West Chester, Pennsylvania. I just wanted to take a quick moment to say that I'm gay. I've been meaning to do this for a while now, but I finally feel comfortable enough to get it off my chest."

Nassib, 28, has played five years with three teams and is entering his second season with the Raiders. He said in a statement accompanying the video that he had agonized over the decision to announce he was gay for 15 years.

Nassib added that he was a private person and wasn't seeking publicity.

"I just think that representation and visibility are so important," he said. "I actually hope that one day videos like this and the whole coming out process are just not necessary. But until then, I'm going to do my best and do my part to cultivate a culture that's accepting, that's compassionate."

"The NFL family is proud of Carl for courageously sharing his truth today," Goodell said. "Representation matters. We share his hope that someday soon statements like his will no longer be newsworthy as we march toward full equality for the LGBTQ+ community. We wish Carl the best of luck this coming season."

The defensive end was drafted out of Penn State by the Cleveland Browns in the third round of the 2016 NFL draft. He played for the Browns from 2016-2017, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2018 and 2019 and was signed by the Raiders as an unrestricted free agent on March 23, 2020.