‘I am really excited because I could name my asteroids’: A 12-year-old from London, Ont. recognized for his discoveries

A young Londoner has discovered new asteroids. CTV London's Gerry Dewan has the story.

A young London asteroid hunter has received a special recognition from an international body.

By all indications, 12-year-old Siddharth Patel has discovered not one, but two asteroids.

“I was really thrilled and excited that I actually found an asteroid,” Patel told CTV News.

2024 RX69 and 2024 RH39 sit in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. The discoveries happened last year and were presented to the Minor Planet Centre (MPC), which maintains the asteroid database used by NASA.

After a year of study, they have been designated as provisional asteroids, meaning they appear to be previously unidentified and meet the necessary criteria. It could take up to four years before the final confirmation.

“After four years, I am really excited because I could name my asteroids. And what I’m thinking of the name is ‘CanAstroSid’ and ‘LonAstroSid’ for Canada and London.”

We were first introduced to Siddharth in August after he won the DarkSky International’s Capture the Dark people’s choice award.

DarkSky International is an agency that lobbies for reduced light pollution in the night sky. Patel won for an image of a comet captured on his mother’s smart phone.

As a 5-year-old, Siddharth stared out at the night sky from a balcony of a downtown London apartment, where his family then lived.

Soon after, his parents bought him his first telescope and have added to his collection since.

“To be frank, no.” admitted Ronak Patel, Siddharth’s father, when asked if it was a shared passion.

But Ronak said they were happy to fuel their son’s passion.

“The curiosity is something that he had naturally by himself. We were just trying to support him,” he said.

Rajani Ramsagar has enjoyed being part of her son’s enthusiasm.

“We’ve watched all the movies with him. Interstellar is his favorite movie,” she said.

Patel doesn’t want to just study space. He wants to pay a visit. He’s already joined air cadets with the goal of becoming an astronaut.

“When you have to become an astronaut, you need 3,000 hours of flight time. So, it’s better to have all the steps ready right now so I could progress into my future dreams,” Patel said.

Currently in Grade 7, Patel is already investigating the education path that will help him reach his goal.