NASA announced on Thursday that the asteroid (176532) 2002 AF2 will now be known as “176532 Boskri” in honor of Moroccan researcher Abdelkrim Boskri’s role in its discovery.
The asteroid was initially discovered in 2002 by renowned Swiss astronomer Michel Ory with assistance from Morocco’s Oukaïmeden Observatory.
After 22 years, the International Astronomical Union officially recognized Boskri’s contributions by assigning his name to this celestial body after a joint request from the Jura Astronomical Society of Switzerland and the Oukaïmeden Observatory.
Boskri, a researcher at the Oukaïmeden Observatory and a PhD holder in astronomy from Cadi Ayyad University in Marrakech expressed his immense pride in this achievement, stating that “it places him among a select group of Moroccan scientists to have received such an honor.”
The Moroccan researcher attributed this recognition to the collaborative nature of astronomical research, highlighting the gesture of his Swiss colleague, Michel Ory, in proposing the name change.
Located in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, the “176532 Boskri” is part of a vast collection of celestial objects that are too distant to be observed with the naked eye.
“Asteroid 176532 Boskri is in the asteroid belt, positioned between Mars and Jupiter. It is located at a considerable distance from Earth, approximately 1.72 astronomical units,” Boskri told Hespress Ar.
Its distance from the Sun is around 2.70 astronomical units, and it resides on a semi-major axis between 3.16 and 98 degrees, following an elliptical orbit.
Boskri said that “when an asteroid is discovered, it is typically distinguished from others because its exact location becomes known and various orbital elements are assigned to it.'”
The discovery of this asteroid in 2002 was made possible through a scientific partnership between the Jura Astronomical Society and the Oukaïmeden Observatory.
The Moroccan Sky Monitoring Observatory (MOSS), one of the telescopes at Oukaïmeden, played a crucial role in this discovery and has been instrumental in identifying numerous other asteroids.
Boskri expressed his aspirations for the Oukaïmeden Observatory, aiming to expand its scientific endeavors further and ultimately establish a second astronomical observatory in Morocco.
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