Pune: Two school students from Maharashtra have discovered six preliminary asteroids during the Kalam Centre Asteroid Search Campaign.
The campaign was organized by the Kalam Centre and the International Astronomical Search Collaboration (IASC).
According to a press release by Vikhe Patil School at Lohegaon near Pune, the asteroids were discovered by Arya Pulate and Shreya Waghmare.
The release added that 22 participants were selected for the campaign through a worldwide event held between November 9 and December 3. They were trained to analyse and spot potential asteroids close to Earth, Hindustan Times reported.
It further mentioned that preliminary discoveries are the “first observations of asteroids found in the Main Belt located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter”, requiring further confirmation of usually 5 years before being “officially catalogued by the Minor Planet Centre of the International Astronomical Union (IAU)”.
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