Karnal students recognised by NASA for asteroid discovery

Twelve students and two teachers from Dyal Singh Public School's main branch have been recognised by NASA’s International Astronomical Search Collaboration (IASC) for the provisional discovery of a main belt asteroid, TD40, found in data provided by the Pan-STARRS telescope.

Diksha, a student in Class XI, along with 11 of her peers, received certificates from IASC for their efforts. The team, under the guidance of Principal Sushma Devgun and Dr Kaveri Chauhan, discovered and registered 11 near-Earth objects. One of these objects, discovered by Diksha, has been officially recognised as a main belt asteroid by IASC.

A special ceremony was held last week at the school to honour the students and teachers. Dr SK Kamra, Principal Scientist (Retd) of the Central Soil Salinity Research Institute (CSSRI), Karnal, was the chief guest at the event, accompanied by other guests, including Dr Namaste Sen, Dr Chandrakanta, Dr Girish, Vivek Arora, and alumni Dr Robin Juneja, Dr Sahil Arora, Dr Ritesh Nandwani and advocate Rajinder Mohan Sharma.

Principal Sushma Devgun expressed pride in the team’s achievement, congratulating the students, parents and staff. She highlighted how this recognition has instilled a sense of pride and motivated students to explore new opportunities in science and education.