NEW DELHI: With the discovery of a new comet, a Delhi boy has become the first school student in India to have achieved this feat. A Class XII student of Ahlcon Public School in Mayur Vihar, Prafull Sharma discovered the new comet — SOHO 2333 — using data from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration ( NASA), and European space agency's spacecraft-based observatory SOHO.
SOHO 2333 is a fragment believed to have separated from a relatively larger comet Machholz when it last came close to the Sun in 2007. The British Astronomical Association also confirmed the find and included it in their list of newly discovered comets. According to the experts, SOHO comets are small comets that are usually found in close proximity of the Sun.
Comet hunter Sharma has been studying about them since 2007. His first step in this direction started at his school club — Ahlcon Space Club. "It all started from the space club in my school, and then I travelled to Patna in 2009 to witness the solar eclipse, followed by the ring eclipse in 2010 in Kerala. In 2011, I joined the All India asteroid search campaign and did a project with Lapalma Observatory in Spain. I discovered an asteroid then. I joined the Sun Grading Project in January, following which SOHO 2333 happened," said Sharma.
Stating that Sharma has the potential to join the big league in comet research, principal of Ahlcon Public School, R K Sharma said: "As a part of the space club, the school arranged for a telescope on the terrace to help Prafull in particular and to encourage all other students."
As per the official list of the SOHO comet discoverers till August 1, a total of 85 comet hunters have been granted 'SOHO numbers' of which Sharma is the 83rd member. Sharma has been associated with Delhi-based NGO Science Popularisation Association of Communicators and Educators (SPACE), is part of a world-wide team of comet hunters who scour through images of the sun transmitted back to Earth by Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO).
On the significance of the discovery, Chander Bhushan Devgun, chairman of SPACE said: "It's significant as small comets are not detected visually as they have to be discovered by SOHO method. Moreover, such discoveries are crucial in understanding the dynamic nature of comet population. Also he is the first Indian school student to do so. Before SOHO 2333, last year he discovered an asteroid as well." Sharma aspires to pursue aero space engineering after his class XII exams.
