International Asteroid Search

The Asteroid Search Program is organized by the International Astronomical Search Collaboration partnering with NASA's citizen science project. SSERD has encouraged and guided students through the process of asteroid hunting.

Citizen
Scientists
0
Preliminary Discoveries
0
Objects Discovered
0
Provisional Discovery
0
Provisional Objects
0

Next campaign dates: 17-11-2023

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Become a citizen scientist!

The International Astronomical Search Collaboration (IASC) is a citizen science program which provides high quality astronomical data to citizen scientists around the world at no cost. They encourage students to make original astronomical discoveries and participate in hands-on astronomy.

The Asteroid Search Program has it’s branches all across the globe. The All India asteroid search campaign has been providing a platform for students to discover celestial bodies from over a decade.

About the program

The Asteroid Search Program is organized by the International Astronomical Search Collaboration partnering with NASA’s citizen science project.

SSERD has encouraged and guided  students through the process of asteroid hunting.

"It is an amazing thing to feel when you connect with your students, and together connect with Space"
Anirudh
Trainer

Let's hunt some asteroids!

Step 1

Students are taken through a wonderful journey of asteroid hunting through our own online platform. Original datasets from Pan-STARRS telescope, Hawaii are analysed by students, who are pre trained to analyse the datasets through practice data sets

The complete process is overwatched by a professional from IASC,All the necessary training will be given by Ms. Ilavenil, who is an astrophysicist.

Step 2

Participants are trained with the Astrometrica software which provides the ability to easily compare astromerical images for the purpose of moving object discovery. Participants will have to differentiate between the true and the false signatures and analyze the data as not all moving objects are asteroids.

The participants analyze the data and when a participant discovers a moving object from the set of data, Eureka !!! They have successfully completed their preliminary discovery in the process of asteroid hunting.

Step 3

Once an asteroid is discovered by a participant by a preliminary discovery it is allotted a preliminary name. The next stage is the provisional discovery which gives the asteroid the provisional name. Finally the asteroid with the provisional name will receive an official numbering and will be eligible for naming and will be cataloged by International Astronomical Union. All the participants have received a certificate for their valuable contributions for the observation of near earth objects and main belt objects, certified by NASA, IASC and Pan Starrs observatory.

Step 4

With help and guidance from SSERD nearly 25 preliminary discoveries have been made and the Asteroid hunters are looking forward for more.

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Register for the upcoming campaign and become a citizen scientist!

Fees: INR 500*


(*) Fee applicable for gaining access to live training sessions, support groups and a community channel. Participants who do not wish to be a part of this can still complete the campaign without any application fee

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What Our Students Have to Say

It was a wonderful experience getting along with SSERD. I had really learnt a lot about asteroids and their research finding.Also,I am glad to share that I with the help of my team have made four preliminary discoveries from Asteroid Search campaign. The people at SSERD are very helping, they answered all questions patiently and moreover interactive. I really had a great experience working with them.
Aditaya Burnwal
It was the best experience ever in my life. I think I am so lucky to have such opportunities for working as a citizen scientist for the IASC and all is because of SSERD. First , I was very confused over it , how to do that , how to analyse the sets and so many complications in the software,how to handle all those stuff. But the teachers provide us a great support 24×7 and solve all the problems. My team has discovered 2 preliminary asteroids and it's a great thing for me. Thanks a lot .
Khushi Arora
Satisfied and fulfilled by the technical information provided by the SSERD in asteroid search campaign.The mentorship was exactly as I was thinking of, lots of motivation and perfect guidance brought me today to identify an appropriate object in a dataset.
Pratyush Sarin
SSERD is the place where every space enthusiast need to connect. Their workshops and collaborations are one of the best in India for students who want to learn about space and Astronomy.
J K S SURYARAO

* Cover image copyright Herve Cadiou