An asteroid is heading towards Earth, and two students were in charge of discovering it. NASA corroborated their information.
Two teens in India made the discovery, reports India Today. Vaidehi Vekariya Sanjaybhai and Radhika Lakhani Prafulbhai, 10th graders, did so through the Pan-STARRS telescope in Hawaii.
NASA confirmed their finding, calling the asteroid HLV2514.
The joy of the young discoverers
The discovery was made within the framework of the SPACE-All India Asteroid Search Campaign. This program was led by Space India, with the International Astronomical Search Collaboration and Hardin Simmons University.
“We are proud to announce that two girls from (the town) of Surat, with the help of the SPACE-All India Asteroid Search Campaign, discovered a new asteroid,” said the Asian subcontinent aerospace agency. “The asteroid is a near-Earth object.”
The students belong to the CBSE-PP Savani Chaitanya Vidya Sankul school.
The Pan-STARRS telescope
The young women used the Pan-STARRS telescope, which is used for a panoramic survey. It also has a quick response system.
It also has smaller astronomical cameras and telescopes. The person in charge of developing it is the Hawaii Institute of Astronomy.
Asteroid to Earth, minor cause for concern
It is common for asteroids to fall on Earth. Its origin is due to a disturbance of matter between Mars and Jupiter: while this disturbance could create planets, here they only remained as small bodies.
Passing through the atmosphere, these asteroids become meteorites. Its energy is determined by its presence in the Sun’s orbit, in addition to the gravity pull of planets like Jupiter.
However, it never hurts to remember that an asteroid 66 million years ago killed off dinosaurs. It is the most dangerous referent of this astronomical phenomenon.