2021-22
Go beyond your atmosphere – Gurukulite spotlights the night sky
Published On: April 20, 2022 , Updated on : February 20, 2024
Who says that the lockdown was a waste of time?
The snag is time always flies but the benefit in that is we are the pilot.
One of our Gurukulite has invested his time during lockdown in his interests on astronomy. We have Sivasubramani who invested his pandemic time in researching and locating asteroids. He had interest in science from very young age and was waiting for an opportunity like this. He used this opportunity to fly high into the vast expanse of science.
Astronomy is the study of everything in the universe beyond our atmosphere. In the same way, we humans to have no limits in learning unless we use the opportunities and time efficiently. Sivasubramani took part in an asteroid searching campaign conducted by IASC. IASC (International Astronomical Search Collaboration) is a program that provides high-quality astronomical data to citizen scientists (citizen scientists use the collective strength of communities and the public to identify research questions, collect and analyze data, interpret results, make new discoveries, and develop technologies and applications – all to understand and solve environmental problems) around the world with the partnership of NASA.
He observed the night sky images provided by the Pan-STARRS2 telescope of the Hawaii Observatory. He processed the images received from Pan-STARRS2 telescope using the Astrometrica Software. He along with his team analyzed and detected some moving objects in night sky. IASC confirmed that the objects located by him has more than 50% chance to be a new asteroid and passed the preliminary stage (faint detections). For this work IASC has appreciated him with certificate.
His detections will be verified by the Minor Planet Center ( the official body for observing and reporting on minor planets under the auspices of the International Astronomical Union) to be recognized as an asteroid. If it is recognized as an asteroid, it will undergo further observations over a three to five year period in order to verify the asteroid’s orbit and consolidate any additional measurements of the objects. Later the discovery credit will go to him and he will get a chance to name the asteroid which he had discovered.