Two physics students from Thodupuzha Newman College identified new asteroids through NASA’s telescope as part of NASA's International Astronomical Search Collaboration (IASC). K S Shruthi of Thodupuzha Udumbannoor Kunnumpurathu and Vijayalakshmi of Karikode Randupalam Karottu Pandipallil are the students.
The discovery happened with the help of a special software that was used to analyze the telescopic pictures. Their report was approved by NASA on July 20. Around 150 students from India were part of the project.
Dr Jo Jacob who is the former head of Newman college’s physics department and Pune’s inter-university center for Astronomy and Astrophysics associate guided them in this journey.
