17-year-old Wolf Cukier discovered a new planet, 1,300 light-years away in the constellation Pictor, on the third day of his NASA internship (Credit: Wolf Cukier)

When 17-year-old Wolf Cukier accepted an internship at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, last summer, he expected to be challenged and gain insights into pursuing a career in astrophysics. Instead, the high school junior from Scarsdale, New York, attained worldwide fame for an achievement that eludes most astronomers — finding a new planet! Even more impressive, Cukier made the discovery on the third day of his two-month-long internship at the US Space Agency.