Prize winner wants to detect asteroids coming from sun's direction

Prize winner wants to detect asteroids coming from sun's direction

SAN FRANCISCO – The inaugural Schweickart Prize was awarded June 28 to an astronomer proposing an international campaign to detect objects approaching Earth from the direction of the sun. Joseph DeMartini, a University of Maryland astronomy Ph.D. student, won a $10,000 grant from B612 Foundation’s prize named for Apollo astronaut Rusty Schweickart. The prize, to be awarded annually, recognizes graduate students with innovative ideas for planetary defense. “We are now technically able to slightly modify the natural clockwork of the …