We’ve probably had a space-related dream even once. Join NASA? Heck yeah. Eat apples in space just like the astronauts? Put that as my Sim’s Lifetime Wish. How about help out PHL-Microsat with all the space data? That’d be a cool experience. Did you ever imagine having a planet named after you, though? Well, this isn’t just a dream anymore for three Filipino students.
The Department of Education (DepEd) revealed through Facebook that three minor planets were named after Filipino students Eugene Rivera, Joscel Kent Manzanero, and Keith Russel Cadores. This was in recogniton of how these students from Camarines Sur National High School successfully bagged major awards in the 2018 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF).
Held in Pennsylvania, USA, the Intel ISEF serves as the biggest international pre-college science competition. Each year, roughly 1,800 high school students from more than 75 countries are given the chance to present their independent research. This year, the team of Rivera, Manzanero, and Cadores won second place for “Energy: Physical” category with their design and development of Solar-Tracking Arduino-Rooted PV Panels.
Each of them received a certificate that indicates the planet named after each one. It also includes the minor planet’s specific orbital plot, which shows the planet’s current location.
Way to go, kids! Maybe the future of space is us. Your hard work has definitely paid off…and is immortalized in celestial bodies forever.
Art by Renz Mart Reyes