A team of researchers led by David Anderson of Keele University in Staffordshire, England, discovered the gas giant, which is about from Earth, by observing it transiting its host star WASP-17. Such photometric observations also reveal the planet's size. The discovery was made with a telescope array at the South African Astronomical Observatory. Due to the involvement of the Wide Angle Search for Planets SuperWASP consortium of universities, the exoplanet, as the 17th found to date by this group, was given its present name.
