Two school students from Pune have managed to discover as many as six preliminary asteroids during a campaign structured around astronomy.?
The findings were a part of a total of 27 asteroids discovered through the program.?
The developments took place during the Kalam Centre Asteroid Search Campaign organised by Kalam Centre and the International Astronomical Search Collaboration (IASC). The campaign saw the selection of 22 participants after screening through a worldwide event organized between November 9 and December 3.
The participants selected from across the globe were then trained to analyze data and spot potential?asteroids close to Earth, located between the orbits of Mars and?Jupiter. Collectively, the participants discovered 27 preliminary asteroids.
Out of these, six preliminary asteroids were identified by two students from Vikhe Patil School in Lohegaon, Pune. As per a release by the school, the students are named Arya Pulate and Shreya Waghmare.
"Preliminary discoveries are the first observations of asteroids found in the Main Belt located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter which need further confirmation to go to Provisional status. This usually takes up to 5 years after which the asteroid can be officially cataloged by Minor Planet Center, International Astronomical Union (IAU)," read the release.
The release further quoted Srijan Pal Singh, former Adviser (Technology and Policy) to Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, and founder of Kalam Centre, as saying "knowing the asteroids around and mapping them is an important element in our bid to understand and monitor these flyings rocks around our planet."
(With inputs from PTI)