NASA call for budding astronomers: How you can help observe and track asteroids in space

NASA’s new Daily Minor Planet Project allows astronomers and skywatchers to help discover new asteroids and track them in data sets.

So, if you’re a budding astronomer and asteroid hunter, then you can help NASA discover and track asteroids in space!

To capture asteroids, the Daily Minor Project uses the NASA-funded, University of Arizona-based Catalina Sky Survey which captures nearly 1000 images every night.

Due to this volume, NASA scientists fall short of personnel to study these images.

According to NASA, “You'll decide if the specks of light in the images look like genuine celestial bodies or, instead, are false detections resulting from inconveniently timed "twinkles" of the star-studded background.

After looking at the image, you just have to click on a yes or a no button and add a comment if necessary, before moving on to the next image.

That’s how you can help NASA keep an eye on these ancient space rocks!

The need for tracking asteroids arises due to the orbits of these space rocks bringing them close to Earth on occasions, making it imperative to track and study them.