Asteroids are named after Peruvian places and characters

Through the virtual program Pop Ciencia, organized and broadcast by Concytec through its official Facebook account, a very curious fact that is little known to Peruvians was known. It turns out that some asteroids bear the names of emblematic places in Peru and also names of leading Peruvian characters in the world of science.

ASTEROID NAMES

It is the International Astronomical Union (IAU) that chose the names referring to Peru for some of the asteroids within them, as we have already mentioned there are names of iconic places and characters who have marked part of the history of Peru.

These are the names of the asteroids:

- Machu Picchu. This is an Inca citadel located in the Cusco region and seventh wonder of the ancient world.

- Qoyllurwasi. This is a word composed of the Quechua language and dialect native to Peru. Qoyllur, means star, and wasi, house. All in all it would mean house of the stars.

- Lime. This is the capital of Peru.

- Cusco. It is the city of the Inca empire and also known as the “navel of the world”.

- Maria reiche. She was a Peruvian nationalized German archaeologist, astronomer and mathematician, who devoted much of her life to the study of the Nazca lines. The discoverer of this magnificent place was Paul Kosok who claimed that the figures located in the department of Ica represented a great astronomical calendar.

- Pajuelo. Her real name is Myriam Pajuelo Cubillas and the asteroid bears her name, this great Peruvian professional is one of the first planetary scientists in Peru. She is also an excellent popularizer of cosmology. He currently holds a doctorate.

- Erickmeza. His real name is Erick Meza Quispe, who is a researcher at the Astronomical Observatory of Moquegua, of CONIDA. He currently holds a doctorate.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN COMETS AND ASTEROIDS

There is a difference between the two and in summary we can say the following:

An asteroid is a small rocky object that orbits the Sun. Asteroids are smaller than a planet, but larger than objects the size of a piece of rock called meteoroids. But beware that some of you can be the size of a stone. Most of the asteroids in our solar system are located in the asteroid belt, this region is located between Mars and Jupiter. But they can also pass through other places around the solar system. For example, some asteroids orbit the Sun on a path that takes them close to Earth.

In the case of comets, they are bodies made up of ice, rocks and other compounds that travel at full speed through space. Its dimensions reach a few kilometers, but when they approach the Sun, the light vaporizes their ice, transforming its composition into a tail of dust and gas, which reaches about several million kilometers.

KITE WATCHING IN PERU

Peru has been no stranger to kite sightings in Peru. In 1986 it was possible to see Halley's comet, in 1996 Hayakutake's comet was also seen and the spectacular comet Hale Boot, in 1997.

In 2016, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) launched the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft to study Bennu, an asteroid close to our planet. OSIRIS-REX managed to collect various dust and rock samples from its surface and is now heading back to Earth. The place where it will land will be in the Utah desert, and it is predicted to land in September 2023.

KEEP READING