A five-year-old Brazilian boy was recognized for being the youngest person in the world to identify an asteroid. In total, there were already 15 of these celestial bodies that the boy discovered and that have already been confirmed by NASA (American Space Agency).
Born in São Paulo, Miro Latansio Tsai has always been interested in subjects related to astronomy and science. “I’ve always liked science, astronomy and planets: Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Sun, Mercury”, says the little one, who soon after corrects himself and states that, in reality, the Sun is a star.
According to Carla Latansio, a lawyer and Miro’s mother, the boy’s interest in astronomy has been visible since he was even younger.
“At the age of two, he knew the names of all the planets in the solar system. On the first visit we made to the Museu Catavento, in São Paulo, at the entrance they had all the planets on the wall and he walked by and pointed his little fingers and spoke the names of everyone”, he exemplifies.
The child’s curiosity for astronomy caught the attention of the parents and one day, during the quarantine because of the Covid-19 pandemic, Latansio saw an advertisement for a project to hunt for asteroids, an international initiative officially called IASC (International Research Collaboration). Astronomical, in the English translation).
The asteroid hunting project is coordinated by NASA and has the participation of other institutions around the world —in Brazil, the MCTI (Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation) is responsible for engaging the local community to participate in the project and recently awarded student Verena Paccola for discovering a rare asteroid.
Miro’s mother thought it would be interesting to enroll the boy in the asteroid hunting project. Quickly, they say, he already understood how to handle the computer program that is used to analyze images made available by NASA. It was through these photos and this program that Miro was able to identify 15 asteroids between October and November 2021.
The boy’s accomplishment made him invited to the 18th National Science and Technology Week, where he received a certificate of merit from the MCTI for having discovered the 15 asteroids. At that time, he also received another certificate from Iasc and NASA also for his discoveries.
Miro said he was proud to receive the recognition.
With these results, his mother came up with the idea of an initiative where the boy would help other children hunt for asteroids. The project was called “Clubinho do Miro” and information about astronomy and asteroid hunting is shared there.
“I opened my astronomy club because my friends liked to see my medal so much, so I opened a little club to teach them (sic)”, says the boy.
For the future, Miro intends to continue hunting asteroids for the same project as Iasc, but he is also involved in two other programs: “Images of the Deep Sky”, by MCTI in partnership with other organizations, including Iasc; and the Globe, focused on monitoring the global climate and coordinated by NASA.
Miro’s interest in asteroid hunting has an explanation: he believes that discovering asteroids can be a way to preserve our planet. To identify the potential risk of a celestial body colliding with Earth, it is necessary to study its orbit better, something that is currently being done with the 15 asteroids that Miro discovered.
“NASA needs other people to see these asteroids to confirm their orbit,” says Latansio.
Even so, Miro is already happy with what he has discovered in the last year. “Whenever I can help people protect planet Earth, I will.”
