A planet so distant that its starlight began traveling toward Earth around the Middle Ages has given one University of Cincinnati graduate student the kind of first look astronomers wait years for. Last fall, Paul Smith sat up through the night as data from the James Webb Space Telescope started appearing on his computer. Webb, orbiting about a million miles from Earth, had been pointed at TOI-2031A, a faint star 901 light years away. If the team’s calculations were right, the giant planet circling that star would pass in front of it during their narrow observation window, letting them examine its atmosphere in unusual detail. For Smith, who leads data analysis for the project’s first planet, the moment felt personal as well as scientific. “It was a lifelong dream of mine coming true. I was up all night to get the first look at the data,” he said. Paul Smith, pictured with the Cincinnati Observatory’s historic telescope, is using geology and physics tools to study exoplanets light years from Earth. (CREDIT: Connor Boyle/UC Marketing + …