Two school students from Surat have discovered an asteroid that is gradually changing its orbit and moving towards the Earth.
Vaidehi Vekariya Sanjaybhai and Radhika Lakhani Prafulbhai are Class 10 students from PP Savani Chaitanya Vidya Sankul school in Surat. Space India tweeted on 25 July that while participating in a joint project between Space India and NASA that lets students analyse images from NASA’s PAN Star telescope, which is housed at the University of Hawaii, they discovered the new asteroid, which is named HLV2514.
The Asteroid Search training program was part of a NASA-affiliated citizen scientist group called the International Astronomical Search Collaboration (IASC).
The asteroid may be officially christened after the girls, once NASA confirms its orbit, a SPACE India spokesperson said, reported Reuters.
Preliminary studies show there is no immediate threat as the asteroid is currently close to the orbit of Mars and will move closer to the Earth in probably one million years, Space India said in its Facebook post.
Fifteen-year-old Vekariya aspires to be an astronaut and said she was really excited that NASA has acknowledged this discovery.
Radhika Lakhani said she was working hard on her education. “I don’t even have a TV at home, so that I can concentrate on my studies,” Reuters reported.
(With inputs from Reuters)
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