GNDU students make 8 astronomical 'discoveries'

Amritsar, April 2

Members of the SciRox, a student science club of Guru Nanak Dev University, have completed eight detections under a citizen science project in collaboration with the International Astronomical Search Collaboration (IASC), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System (Pan-STARRS) and Catalina Sky Survey, a NASA-funded project.

Three teams from the SciRox — Andromedae, Centuri and Sirius — each having five students of BSc and MSc, participated in a month-long CB Devgun Asteroid Search Campaign that concluded on March 24.

Each participating team got a login ID and password for analysing image sets provided by the Institute for Astronomy at the University of Hawaii. The 1.8-m Pan-STARRS telescope in the US takes images along the ecliptic, where most asteroids are found.

Participating teams received these image sets through the IASC website and analysed them at their homes using the software Astrometrica to search for asteroids.

Throughout the campaign, each team received 15-20 image sets on different days of the month. Students divided them amongst their team members and a report was prepared in Astrometrica and submitted through the IASC website to be reviewed for possible detections.

SciRox team Andromedae reported four preliminary discoveries and team Centuri and Sirius reported two each, making a count of eight successful detections. These detections will be confirmed by the IASC and after being confirmed, these will be given the status of a provisional discovery. The team then gets a chance to name the asteroid as per their choice.— TNS

If confirmed, can name asteroid

• Andromedae team of SciRox, a student science club of GNDU, reported four preliminary detections and team Centuri and Sirius reported two each, making a count of eight successful detections.
• These detections will be confirmed by the IASC and after being confirmed, these will be given the status of a provisional discovery. The team then gets a chance to name the asteroid as per their choice.