The Cosmology Education and Research Training Center (COSMOS), Mysuru, is facilitating an asteroid search campaign where students get to work on actual data from the PanSTARRS telescope in Hawaii, U.S., in collaboration with Hands-on Universe, India (IHOU).
The campaign is part of the International Asteroid Search Campaign conducted by the International Astronomical Search Collaboration (IASC).
Students and interested persons will be given data sets of photographs taken by the telescope to analyse, and will be trained on how to report them.
In case of a discovery, the student’s or volunteer’s name will be listed as part of the preliminary discoveries. There will be further observations over a few years. If confirmed, the student or team that discovered the asteroid will be allowed to name the celestial body.
All participants will receive a certificate, endorsed by IHOU, IASC, PanSTARRS and NASA, on successful completion. Participation is free. Anyone interested in astronomy and who meets the requirements is encouraged to apply before August 5, 2023.
The requirements for participating in the campaign include:
- Student or volunteer must be 13-plus years old
- Students or volunteers are expected to have a personal laptop or desktop, and internet accessibility, besides basic computer skills
For registration link, click here.
