30 August 2011
Last updated at 14:31 ET

Student Hannah Blyth was on a month-long work placement

A sixth-former who went on work experience to study astronomy and discovered a new asteroid, is to have it named after her.

Hannah Blyth was using a remote-controlled telescope to stare into the night sky when she spotted 22 new asteroids more than 300m miles away.

One will be named “Hannahblyth” after scientists in America confirmed her discovery.

The 18-year-old from Castleton, near Newport, was “totally amazed”.

“It’s an honour that there’s a rock out there with my name on it,” she said.

“I felt elated when I realised what I was looking at it – it was beyond my wildest dreams.

Summer placement

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I’m very proud of the fact that I was part of something like that, I had a lot of fun”

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Hannah Blyth

“It’s totally mind blowing.”

Miss Blyth was on a summer placement with the Faulkes Telescope Project, based at the University of Glamorgan, when she made the spot using robotic telescopes in Australia and on the Hawaiian island of Maui.

She was given co-ordinates to study the sky between Jupiter and Mars which would then direct the telescopes to take photographs of them.

Other astronomers working on the project looked at her images and realised her discovery.

The images were sent to two of the world’s leading asteroid experts, Giovanni Sostero and Ernesto Guido, who confirmed the asteroids had never been seen before.

The finds were verified by the Minor Planet Centre at Harvard University in the United States who have officially named one of the asteroids after the student.

Image showing Hannah Blyth’s asteroid discovery

“I was not really expecting to be involved with the asteroids never mind finding new ones,” Miss Blyth added.

“It was an extremely exciting moment when we discovered the asteroids, and something to remember.

“I’m very proud of the fact that I was part of something like that, I had a lot of fun.”

‘Highly unusual’

Miss Blyth was encouraged by her biology teacher at St John’s College in Cardiff to go on the month-long placement.

The University of Glamorgan said that it was “highly unusual” for an amateur to discover such phenomena on their own, and “even more remarkable” for someone still at school.

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Most amateurs may see one or two of these in their lives so to be involved in spotting 22 while on work experience is fantastic”

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Dr Paul Roche
University of Glamorgan

Dr Paul Roche, head of astronomy at the university, said: “We decided to squeeze this project in to the normally quiet summer months when the telescopes are not being used and it has been an amazing success.

“We had hoped to find maybe one or two new asteroids but Hannah and the team have discovered 22 brand new asteroids which have never been seen before by anybody.

“These are lumps of rocks the size of buildings that are millions of kilometres away.

“They are dark grey against a black background and although they are large in human terms they are tiny in terms of the galaxy.

“Hannah is very lucky. Most amateurs may see one or two of these in their lives so to be involved in spotting 22 while on work experience is fantastic.”

Article source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-east-wales-14721059