Teens from Surat spot Earth-bound asteroid HLV2514 in telescope images; IASC verifies discovery

Two teenagers from Surat in Gujarat have spotted an Earth-bound asteroid in photographs snapped by a key astronomical telescope in Hawaii. The 14-year-old students Vaidehi Vekariya and Radhika Lakhani discovered the asteroid during a two-month science programme called the ‘All India Asteroid Search Campaign 2020’. The asteroid is currently on its orbit, close to Mars, and is expected to cross Earth’s path in roughly a million years’ time, according to a Facebook post by SPACE India, the private space education institute where the girls received their astronomy training. [caption id=“attachment_8649411” align=“alignnone” width=“1280”] Vaidehi Vekariya and Radhika Lakhani sharing the limelight after their discovery. Image: SPACE Surat/Facebook[/caption] The Asteroid Search training program they were part of was conducted by SPACE India in partnership with a NASA-affiliated citizen scientist group called the International Astronomical Search Collaboration (IASC). The Director of the IASC, J Patrick Miller, confirmed the discovery as per an email to the teens,  Reuters reported .

Specialised software was used by the duo to examine images taken by the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System (Pan-STARRS) telescope in Hawaii’s Haleakala Observatory. The Pan-STARRS telescope is the world’s largest and most powerful digital camera pointed at the sky, and was funded by NASA’s Near-Earth Object Observatory program, which tracks down potentially dangerous space rocks hurtling towards Earth. The asteroid discovery was made in June, as per the SPACE India post. Technically classified as a a Near-Earth Object due to its proximity to Earth, the asteroid has been temporarily dubbed ‘HLV2514’. A new, official name may be give once NASA confirms its orbit, a spokeswoman from SPACE India told The Tribune .