During July and August of last year, astronomer Denis Martinez He carried out the viewing of a mound located in space. “At that time we reported that body as a possible new asteroid, and these days I received the IASC certificate, notifying us that this discovery was an asteroid”, specified the space researcher from Río Negro.
The astronomer Denis Martínez, based in the town of the caves, was recognized by the POTafter he discovered an unidentified asteroid as part of the citizen science project International Astronomical Search Collaboration (IASC) that drives that space agency. “It is a program whose objective is to search for new asteroids through software used in astronomy and images taken by the Pans-Tarrs telescopes located in Hawaii”Martinez described.
The IASC asteroid search program provides high-quality astronomical data to “citizen scientists” around the world with the aim of making new discoveries. The initiative is supported by “Minor Planet Center” (MPC)the organization in charge of receiving position measurements of minor planets, comets and irregular natural satellites.
The entity is responsible for the identification, designation and calculation of the orbit of all objects discovered since the Smithsonian Astronomical Observatory, under the auspices of the World Astronomical Union.“They run campaigns every month throughout the year so that one can analyze those images in search of asteroids or comets that have not been recognized or identified so far,” Martínez explained, in statements to Télam.
The Rio Negro astronomer settled in Las Grutas in 2020, where he develops and disseminates astrotourism, which includes these citizen participation projects. Along with other people, he is part of the Southern Group of Meteor Observers (GAOM)which “promotes the idea in schools or groups of fans so that they join the campaigns in Argentina to search for asteroids to position our country within that search,” he said.
The new asteroid has a provisional nomenclature with which it begins to appear in the records of the MPC, as “2022 OX27”. In this sense, Martinez pointed out that “Argentina has very few discoveries and with this, we add one more.” The celestial body, which was discovered by analyzing photographs that he took with Damián Drago (from Buenos Aires) and Deivy Castellanos (from Ecuador), is on the call Main Belt, located between the planets Mars and Jupiter.
“We reported about 20 celestial bodies, and only one was confirmed. In a few years we will be able to give it our own definitive name,” said the astronomer. As reported on the official IASC website, to participate in the search for new unidentified celestial bodies, it is necessary to form a team with at least two members.
by RN
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