Passionate stargazers in Bahrain have been given the opportunity of a lifetime to name an asteroid they discovered.
Local asteroid hunters who are members of The International Asteroid Search Campaign (IASC), led by club founder Myriam Alqassab, have been analysing images taken by the Pan-STARRS telescope in Hawaii.
The campaign is part of an international asteroid search, which is being done in collaboration with the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration and other organisations.
“They deliver images to analyse, our job is to look at these images and look for potential asteroids,” explained Ms Alqassab. “Asteroid hunters are given 30 days to analyse the pictures.”
The IASC is a citizen science programme that provides high-quality astronomical data to budding astronomers around the world.
Newly-discovered asteroids are added to the IASC preliminary list until they are formally designated and categorised by the International Astronomical Union (IAU), a process which can take up to three years.
“So far we have had 16 preliminary discoveries and one provisional discovery,” she said.
A preliminary discovery is the first observation of an unknown asteroid, and could take about a year of observation before being officially designated as a provisional discovery.
“Scientists will observe the orbit of the asteroid and check its size, speed, and location for a maximum of one year,” she added. “Once they are certain that the discovery is an asteroid and not another object such as a satellite, they change its status from preliminary to provisional.”
Ms Alqassab confirmed that one of the group’s asteroid discoveries had been approved.
“I am very proud of that,” she said. “We now have the chance to name the asteroid, a process which will likely take another three years.
“We’re not allowed to pick any random name and have to follow rules set out by the IAU.”
The campaign has grown in popularity in the GCC recently but Bahrain remains a front-runner in asteroid hunting.
The latest recruitment campaign which ended last month, witnessed new asteroid hunters joining the team, although more would be appreciated.
“We communicate and send pictures to our asteroid hunters, who analyse the graphs, send their reports and we check them for errors,” Ms Alqassab added.
Due to time constrains, the society will not be participating in the next asteroid hunt which will be held in late December, but it is aiming to participate in the one after in early 2023.
“There will be a one-week training before the campaign starts in order to train new recruits.
“They have to know the shape of the asteroid, its velocity, magnitude and how to read the graphs.
“They need to know how to differentiate between true signature and false signatures, as not all moving bodies are asteroids.
“We read the graphs and the magnitude and look at the shape.
“We study these things to see whether they are false or true signature asteroids.
Ms Alqassab has confirmed that the society is open for everyone, whether they are an astronomer enthusiast, school or university student, and even to children.
“All activities are free of charge,” she said. “We currently have about 100 active members and our aim is to spread astronomy enthusiasm in the kingdom.”
For more information on Bahrain Stargazers, or to participate in any of the club activities, visit stargazersbh.wixsite.com/bsac
nader@gdnmedia.bh
&uuid=(email))