UMD Students Name Asteroid ‘Diamondback’

Twenty-five years after an automated space survey discovered an asteroid between Mars and Jupiter, that astronomical object finally got a name: Diamondback.

Two teams of University of Maryland students in the “Astronomy in Practice” class who had measured the asteroid’s light curve and rotation period petitioned the International Astronomical Union (IAU) to name the object—which previously went by a string of numbers and letters—after UMD’s mascot, the diamondback terrapin.

The IAU accepted the new name in July, and the students’ observations appeared in the journal TheMinor Planet Bulletin on Monday. This is the second time that ASTR 315 students named a celestial object; those who took the class a year earlier named a different asteroid “Testudo.”

Two of the students who studied the Diamondback asteroid, finance master’s student Zahra Schenck ’25  and biological sciences major Benjamin Weintraub, suggested the name and the rationale for the asteroid’s new designation. 

“‘Diamondback’ honors our mascot and connects with students who read The Diamondback newspaper,” Schenck said. “The name felt like a tribute not only to both of our teams, but also to the entire ASTR 315 class and all the classes before us that studied other asteroids. Plus, now I have a great fun fact to share during icebreakers.”

Astronomy Principal Lecturer Melissa Hayes-Gehrke, who teaches ASTR 315, said the class gives non-astronomy students the tools and autonomy to make scientific discoveries. Even if students are not naming an astronomical object, they still collect data and publish their results in a peer-reviewed journal.

“The fact that students are responsible for the data is a big deal, and it’s important to them,” Hayes-Gehrke said. “They’re publishing something new, and they’re excited to be doing real science.”

Typically, the person who discovers an asteroid secures the naming rights, but not everyone seizes that opportunity. Increasingly, asteroids are also being discovered through automated space surveillance programs, leaving plenty of unnamed objects to choose from.

For her class assignments, Hayes-Gehrke doesn’t send students looking for unnamed asteroids, but instead chooses objects with high visibility, making them easier to observe—in theory, at least. The class used the iTelescope in Australia to collect data remotely on Diamondback, and while unfavorable weather conditions and software glitches sometimes complicated matters, the experience taught important lessons in patience and persistence.

“The astronomical software had a steep learning curve, and there were plenty of small hiccups throughout the project,” Schenck said. “That included delays in observations and working with the asteroid's original name, 2000 OS51.”

The class will be taught again next spring, thanks to a grant Hayes-Gehrke received from the Maryland Space Grant Consortium to help cover the cost of iTelescope use. 

Though Schenck said she was “not especially interested in astronomy” before taking the ASTR 315 class, she ended the semester with a greater appreciation for the complexity involved. 

“I knew we would be studying asteroids, but I still thought most astronomy involved people looking through telescopes,” she said. “I did not realize how much it involves data, software and collaboration. This made it a lot more engaging than I expected.”