A FORMER John Kyrle High School student is now working at Nasa on a mission to uncover the ancient secrets of the solar system.

Duncan Lyster studied physics at the school under the tutelage of Mr Toomer, and he is now undertaking a PhD in planetary sciences at the University of Oxford.

And as part of his research, Duncan has been given the opportunity to spend three weeks working with the American space agency and got involved with the Lucy probe, which was launched in October 2021 as part of a $980m 12-year mission to study Jupiter's trojans, which are said to date back to the very earliest days of the solar system.

Duncan explained that he had always had an interest in space as a child and added: “In school my strengths were physics and maths, but getting to Nasa has been a circuitous journey.

“I am in a room with 40 other scientists looking at data from the recent asteroid fly-by. The mission is actually named after the Lucy fossil, which is the first fossil discovered of an upright, walking human.

“The aim of this mission is to learn about the early solar system and how the solar system formed.

“I am trying to learn as much as I can. I’ve met with some really big names from the science world already.

“I was inspired by one man, and everything I have been doing as part of my PhD is based on work that he had done in the 1980s. I was a bit star-struck meeting him in person, but we had a long discussion.”

Duncan also worked alongside Queen guitarist Dr Brian May, who has a PhD in astronomy and added: “It was a good experience working him for a day or two.

“If anybody ever offers me a ride into space, I won’t be saying no.

“The universe is so big, I think its overwhelmingly likely that something is out there.”