High School Students Discover Asteroid
Written by Nancy Atkinson
Here’s another wonderful example of how amateur astronomers can make important discoveries. Three high school students from Wisconsin discovered an asteroid while doing an astronomical observation project for a class in school. Connor Leipold, Tim Patika, and Kyle Simpson of The Prairie School near Racine were notified this week by the Minor Planet Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts that the object they discovered has been verified as an asteroid.
The students will have the opportunity to name the asteroid, temporarily designated as 2008 AZ28. They spotted the asteroid through telescopes located in New Mexico that operate remotely via the internet. The technology was provided through a project sponsored by Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
As Fraser and Pamela commented on their Astronomy Cast episode about amateur astronomy, “Astronomy is one of the few sciences where amateurs make can meaningful contributions and discoveries.� And here’s proof. So the rest of you, go out there and start looking!
Original New Source: NewsDaily
Filed under: Astronomy
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January 24th, 2008 at 6:44 am
[...] The Asteroids. Pretty impressive, from what I've heard — especially for a bunch of High School kids. Still, some folks just have to make a big stink about things like that. Playing up the risks and [...]
January 24th, 2008 at 7:50 am
Wow, goes to show you don't need billion dollar observatories and a phd in astrophysics to discover things.
January 25th, 2008 at 2:50 pm
That's awesome.