In May, he will travel to the United States for a science fair to present it.
Tenth grader Danil Panov from the Scrabble Lyceum "Erudite" now has his own star under the Australian sky. The luminary was named Dan V1 - in honor of the 16-year-old scientist from Russia.
The cosmic discovery happened last summer in a camp for gifted children near Moscow, where Danil was resting and doing science.
- I was interested in research related to astronomy. I have been fascinated by space since my mother showed the Big Dipper in the mountains, - says our hero.
Young astronomers were offered a choice of several projects, and Danil decided to look for new variable stars.
“Our curator Denis Denisenko, a teacher of astronomy at Moscow State University, said that there is a chance to make a discovery here, and it was very tempting,” the student shared.
Danil began his search for a new star in the Southern Hemisphere. It is, according to the boy, the least researched. As a result, the young astronomer reviewed more than 100 thousand stars in pictures taken with Australian telescopes. Moreover, they had to be viewed in dynamics, connecting photos to each other and flipping through like animation. At one of these moments, his cherished star and "winked" at him. Looked closely - eureka! But this star from the constellation Sagittarius has not been described anywhere and by anyone!
Therefore, it was necessary to calculate a lot of data: the eclipse period, magnitude, coordinates, etc., in order to convincingly prove that the star is really not marked anywhere. As a result, there was official recognition and applause from experienced astronomers. After all, a star named Dan V1 also turned out to be unique - out of 470 thousand open variable stars, there are only one percent of them.
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“This is such a white“dwarf”that sucks energy out of red, but red is nearby and from time to time outshines its white“vampire”, - Danil talks about his star as a character in a mystical film.
According to the student, he wanted to give the star to his mother.
In scientific terminology, the star discovered by Danil is both cataclysmic (white "dwarf" in the company of red) and eclipsing (losing its brilliance over time). Plus, it has a rare eclipse period - 2 hours 15 minutes.
According to the student, the first thing he wanted to do was give a star to his mother.
- When they told me to come up with a name, I wanted to choose her name - Natalya, but then settled on what is, - says Danil. - In the end, the name is not the main thing, but the star is my gift to my mother, teachers, and friends.
By the way, there is still an intrigue in the lyceum where Danil is studying: what does this mysterious v1. Is this due to heart affection?
“This is Variable,” the student explained smiling to the KP correspondent, adding that classmates are asking the next time, after opening a star, to dedicate it to them. This guy clearly will not have girlish attention deficit. Not only does he play the accordion, he is engaged in hand-to-hand combat, but he can also give a sparkling heavenly pearl!
In the meantime, the astronomer himself, with the help of physics teacher Olga Bulgakova, is preparing for the presentation of his project at the Intel ISEF science fair in Pennsylvania (the trip is paid by the Andrey Melnichenko Foundation, which finances the boy's scientific activities). Danil will go there in May, and is going to tell about his star, so that the listeners will take their breath away.
MARINA KOCHNEVA