How to discover a new star in the Milky Way at just 16 years old

“The cosmos has always fascinated me since I was a child. And now that I’m older, I would like to put this passion of mine to good use”.

And at just 16, Lorenzo Sassaro is certainly on the right track. He is a student of the Gian Giorgio Trissino high school in Valdagno, in the province of Vicenza. And his passion for astronomy, with the time he dedicates to observations, both virtual and with real telescopes for professionals, has led him to make an uncommon discovery for an amateur astronomer (that is, a non-professional astronomer at the moment ) so young. Thanks to the observation and research activity at the Marana di Crespadoro Observatory, in the Vicenza area, he discovered a new variable star called MarSEC2_V2from the name of the “Marana Space Explorer Center”, the astronomical observatory of Valdagno, of which Lorenzo is a member.

The one discovered by Lorenzo is a star called “variable” which is 1,480 light years from the Earth, has a temperature of 10,800 degrees, and is called variable because its luminosity, in the case of the “Marsec”, varies every day and a half. These data led Lorenzo (among the youngest ever among the discoverers of variable stars) to guess that they were actually a pair of stars interacting with each other in terms of luminosity.

The Carina nebula recently hit the headlines, because it was among the first to be photographed, with a breathtaking image, by the new “James Webb” Space Telescope, which operates automatically one and a half million kilometers from the Earth, and is fruit of the collaboration between NASA and the European ESA (and in whose program many Italian researchers participate).

Then, as usual whenever a professional or amateur astronomer discovers a new celestial body (asteroids, planets, moons, stars …), the discovery is evaluated by an international astronomical body. In the case of the discovery of the young man from Vicenza, it was examined by the “Ente international for variable stars”who after some revisions, approved it.

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“It’s a really interesting discovery, made by such a young and therefore very promising boy” – says astrophysicist Walter Ferreri of the INAF Observatory in Turin, and Scientific Director of the Alpette Observatory – “also because it really requires a lot of patience and constancy. It is necessary to evaluate, and very carefully, several images of stars. By making careful comparisons, if you notice that one of them has varied brightness often… there it is captured. Until recently the images were mostly analogical, now we work with digital”.

“For a 16-year-old boy, Italian above all, this is great news” – adds Ferreri, discoverer of many celestial bodies, especially asteroids – “Comets and asteroids are more complicated to discover, being objects in strong motion. But Lorenzo is well on his way to adding new discoveries.” Which will occur when he, after high school and university, he will become a researcher. Even if he hasn’t decided yet whether he will be an astronomer, a doctor or a computer scientist: “But, in the meantime, he continues to cultivate my passion for the universe. In fact, I consider this discovery only a beginning ”- he says.

And then he confirms: “To understand if the star was new, I compared its parameters and coordinates with those inserted in the scientific platforms. It was a great satisfaction, and with the collaboration of the observatory researchers, we immediately reported it to the space agency of competence, which after the appropriate checks and revisions approved it. I would have loved to give it my name”. But in any case her name is there, and it comes immediately after the star’s name and cataloging code. And a record, still being verified, but practically certain: that of the youngest Italian discoverer of variable stars.