This Son of a newspaper vendor saves money to buy a telescope and Discovers an Asteroid

1 year Ago

Created By Oishani Ghosh.

Born to a newspaper vendor in Delhi, Aryan Mishra is a real teen prodigy. At an age when children usually play under the evening skies, Aryan Mishra used to scale it. At an early age of 14, this passionate space enthusiast discovered a near-Earth asteroid in All India Asteroid Search Campaign, a nation-wide search campaign. His discovery has been designated the number 2014 00372 and is soon to become a part of the world’s minor body catalog maintained by the International Astronomical Union in Paris.

It was the curiosity of the unknown that led Aryan to the mystical cosmos. The night sky always intrigued him when he used to sleep on his terrace. He used to ask questions related to space and the celestial bodies to his school teachers. Struck by Aryan’s interest in astrophysics, one of his teachers suggested he join the Space Club of the school. That’s when his rocket of passion started projecting in the direction of his dreams. Aryan Mishra, is a student of Chinmaya Vidyalaya, Delhi. His first tryst with space was when as a member of space club he saw Saturn from a telescope. He was 11 years old then, and the beauty and magnificence of the planet left him amazed. Aryan decided then that he wanted to become an astronaut or an aerospace engineer.

But the road wasn’t easy. Aryan, saved his pocket money by skipping canteen meals and walking to school for 18 months. With that humble saving, he bought his first own telescope for Rs 5000. Spending this amount to buy something they considered useless, for obvious reasons, angered his parents. Aryan found the best way to prove the worth of his telescope by discovering a near-Earth asteroid. He states that the asteroid was moving between Jupiter and Mars. He did all his research from a cybercafe because he didn’t have a computer and internet connection at home.

Aryan has been nominated for many science awards. The Times of India awarded him a couple of times by for his incredible impact work. Aryan’s discovery of an asteroid fetched him many other small packets glories; like the owner of the cyber cafe felt extremely proud to know that his cybercafe had a major contribution to Aryan’s discovery. As a result, he stopped charging the cafe fees from him.