World recognises Thiruvananthapuram native's 'small' discovery

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Abhimanyu Krishna, the 15-year-old, is beaming with pride after discovering a hidden asteroid in the solar system. The Minor Planet Centre (MPC), which monitors and reports on minor planets under the International Astronomical Union, officially confirmed Abhimanyu's achievement. Abhimanyu will name the asteroid six years later. Abhimanyu, a native of Kumarapuram, Thiruvananthapuram, is a class 10 student at Loyola School.

Abhimanyu discovered the asteroid from space images collected by the International Astronomical Search Collaboration (IASC) from the world-famous Pan Stars Telescope in Hawaii. Each grid of the image with planets and asteroids was monitored online through Astrometrica software. The observation, which began in May 2024, was completed in June 2025. Senior scientists will monitor the trajectory of the asteroid discovered by Abhimanyu in the coming days.

Abhimanyu's pastime since childhood was to enjoy the sky through a toy telescope. The youngster who is keen on physics dreams of becoming a scientist soon. Abhimanyu participated in the asteroid search campaign of the International Astronomical Search Collaboration, affiliated with NASA. Through this, he practised finding asteroids. V. Shalini of Erode CS Academy also helped him.

Abhimanyu's father is J Krishnakumar (IT employee, Bengaluru), and his mother Minu (Assistant Professor at the College of Architecture).

👉 The asteroid belt is between Mars and Jupiter

👉 The asteroids will appear faint in the images

👉 New ones can only be discovered with a scrutinising study that may last months.