The Hindu : Front Page : Delhi students find main belt asteroid

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Saturday, Aug 14, 2010
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Delhi students find main belt asteroid

Madhur Tankha

NEW DELHI: Amanjot Singh and Sahil Wadhwa, both students of Ryan International in Rohini here, have created a history of sorts by discovering the main belt asteroid named 2010 PO24.

This is the first time an asteroid has been spotted by any school in the country. Amanjot and Sahil found it while participating in the “All-India Asteroid Search Campaign,” conducted by the Science Popularisation Association of Communicators and Educators (SPACE) in collaboration with the International Astronomical Search Collaboration.

Ever since the August 6 discovery, Sahil has been on cloud nine.

“I have been interested in astronomy since Class VII. We were trained to use the software. [Dr.] Patrick Miller from the United States used to transmit pictures of celestial objects taken from his 32” and 24” telescopes to us. We used the software to analyse the pictures and after detecting the correct one, our discovery was confirmed,” said the Class XII science student.

Congratulating the students, SPACE president C.B. Devgun said it was a proud moment for the country's student community.

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