Recommended by NASA, driven by passion! Boy discovers 4 asteroids

SPACE and its mysteries have fascinated people for ages. However, unlike many, this 13-year-old decided to work towards unraveling some of them. And to do that, he got himself included in NASA's Citizen Science Programme.

- ANU KURUVILLA @Kochi

Shreyas Girish, a Class 8 student of GEMS Academy in Kakkanad, has not only identified four asteroids but also has one of them officially listed by the Minor Planet Center, which operates at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) under the auspices of Division F (formerly Division III, and before that, Commission 20) of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) in the United States. He has also been recorded as the youngest Indian to discover an asteroid.

"My space journey began when I came to know about NASA's Citizen Science Programme," Shreyas tells TNIE.

"I wasn't studying aerospace or doing any research in a laboratory. I was just a self-driven space enthusiast determined to make a mark."

The youngster shot off an email to NASA, expressing his desire to enroll in the programme.