Two girls from Surat discover new asteroid HLV2514 that will soon pass by earth in near future

New Delhi, July 29: Vaidehi Vekariya Sanjaybhai and Radhika Lakhani Prafulbha, two class 10 students from Gujarat's Surat, have discovered a new asteroid. The asteroid named HLV2514 is expected to pass the earth in the near future.

The duo, studying in Surat's PP Savani Chaitanya Vidya Sankul, participated in an International science programme called 'All India Asteroid Search Campaign 2020', conducted by SPACE India in collaboration with International Astronomical Search Collaboration (IASC) and Hardin Simmons University, Texas.

Speaking to ANI, Vaidehi Vekariya Sanjaybhai said, "We discovered this object as a part of All India Asteroid Search Campaign. It is presently near Mars & is expected to cross earth in future".

In the two-month-long project, the images of the asteroid were taken by Pan Starrs telescope in Hawaii.

The students use advanced software and techniques to look for asteroids. Pan Starrs has an advanced telescope and camera system and state of the art CCD cameras, higher Field of View, ability to see fainter objects. These capabilities of the telescope made the difference.

Students looked for asteroids under programs initiated by NASA and Jet Propulsion Lab that track and monitor asteroids looking for ones that may pose a threat to earth.