Five college
students combing through telescope images have found more than 1,300 previously
undetected asteroids.
The newly
discovered asteroids now make up about one in 250 known objects in the solar
system, but none are known to be a threat to Earth—yet. Some asteroids have
orbits close to Earth's, so they pose a collision
danger. NASA and other organizations have been involved for several years
now in efforts to find the bigger space rocks that could destroy the planet or
a lot of its life.
"There's
no immediate danger, but anything that crosses Earth's orbit could, in a
hundred, a thousand, a million years, crash into us
if we reach the same point at the same time," said Andrew Becker, an
assistant professor in astronomy at the University of Washington in Seattle who
assisted the asteroid-hunting undergrads.
Becker said
his students set out to find supernovae, or the remnants of exploding stars,
but the asteroids blocked their view like a swarm of tiny flies.
"I
kept asking the students what they had found and they kept saying, 'More asteroids. No supernovae, but lots
of asteroids,'" Becker said.
University of Washington astronomy students Amy Rose, Amber
Almy, Amanjot Singh, Kenza Sigrid Arraki and Kathryn Smith made the discoveries
in 2005 and 2006. The 8.2-foot (2.5-meter) Sloan telescope at Apache Point, N.M., was used to collect the data that the students used, which they combed through with
the help of computer software
The Minor
Planet Center at Harvard University verified the astronomical finds and, if the
students continue to collect data , each may get to name up to 260 asteroids.
"It's
an amazing feeling - I feel like I'm jumping into research," said Rose, a
junior at the University of Washington. "It's not just taking tests and
going to class."
The Sloan
Digital Sky Survey is funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, National
Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Energy, NASA, Japanese Monbukagakusho,
Max Planck Society of Germany and Higher Education Funding Council for England.
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