High School Sophomores Discover Asteroid 126
Several readers sent us the story of three high school sophomores in Racine, Wisconsin who were just notified that a celestial body they had discovered during a science project has been verified as an asteroid. The students at Racine's Prairie School will be given the opportunity to name the asteroid in about four years. They used a telescope in New Mexico, belonging to a college in Michigan, that they controlled over the Net.
Re:How does that work, exactly? (Score:3, Informative)
This is more common than you'd think (Score:5, Informative)
http://ari.home.mchsi.com/index.htm/ [mchsi.com]
List of asteroids discovered this school year:
http://ari.home.mchsi.com/mp_discoveries_table_2007.htm/ [mchsi.com]
And some info on the telescope he uses to capture images:
http://bi-staff.beckman.uiuc.edu/~melockwo/telescopes/holmes32/holmes32.html/ [uiuc.edu]
Same deal as this article. He uploads pics for students at participating schools to work with.
Re:This is more common than you'd think (Score:3, Informative)
Yes, it was sloppy, but we all know that file extensions don't end with a slash, right..?
Re:Obviously (Score:2, Informative)
* S.C.Johnson, Horlick's, Case or other local manufacturer
* Arthur's Diner (fictional)
* names of models of AMC automobiles (Rambler, American, Classic, Ambassador, Matador, Javelin, Hornet, Gremlin, etc.) Oh
* Anything Danish.
* Max Hardcore
Re:Uhoh (Score:5, Informative)
It might make you feel better to know that those star naming deals are scams. They are not creating official names. What they tell you (in very careful language) is that the name you choose will go in the [insert important-sounding catalog name]. But that catalog is really just one they keep. Scientists don't use it.
Also, according to Wikipedia [wikipedia.org], when these high-schoolers name the asteroid, the IAU gets to vet the name. If it's "Johnsmithisajerk", they'll probably say no.
Re:Uhoh (Score:3, Informative)
Re:How does that work, exactly? (Score:2, Informative)