Polish students will search for asteroids for six weeks

For several years, the Polish students have been successful in the search for new asteroids, participating in various international projects of this type. In September and October, the campaign for the first time will include fifteen Polish schools. Students will analyse images from taken about 81 cm diameter telescope of the Astronomical Research Institute in the U.S.

The campaign participants are schools in Bydgoszcz, Grudziądz, Inowrocław, Jankowice, Jasło, Niedźwiedź, Poznań, Sierpc (2 schools), Skoki, Tczew, Toruń (2 schools), Warsaw and Żywiec.

The project called "All-Poland Asteroid Search Campaign" will run for six weeks, from 19 September to 24 October. It is accompanied by the parallel project "All-Venezuela Asteroid Search Campaign". A total of 30 schools will participate in the Polish and Venezuelan observation campaigns. Campaigns in other countries, including China, Portugal and Bulgaria, are also planned at later dates.

"Experience shows that during this time each school has a chance to discover at least one new asteroid" - said Mankiewicz.

The discovery of a new asteroid candidate must then be confirmed by independent observations. Precise orbit determination can take up to several years, if successful, the discoverer will have the right to name the new celestial object. To date, students from three Polish schools had the opportunity.

International Astronomical Search Collaboration (IASC), the main organizer of the campaign, is a global project that involves the cooperation of several universities and organizations from many countries. The asteroid search campaign in Poland is organized, in addition to IASC, by the Centre for Theoretical Physics PAS, Hands-On Universe-Polska and Astronomia.pl website.

IASC project website address is http://iasc.hsutx.edu, and Polish Hands-On Universe website is available at http://www.pl.euhou.net/

PAP - Science and Scholarship in Poland

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