WIND POINT - Three sophomore science students at The Prairie School learned Monday that they discovered a new asteroid while taking part in a science project in teacher Andrew Vanden Heuvel's astronomy class.

The Minor Planet Center in Cambridge, Mass., the international authority on known objects in our solar system, verified the asteroid - temporarily named "2008 AZ28" -and notified students Connor Leipold, Tim Pastika and Kyle Simpson on January 14 of their discovery, school spokeswoman Susan Paprcka said Tuesday.

The students will be able to choose their own unique name for the asteroid that will become its official name in about four years.

"It's extremely rare, and I don't know if an asteroid has ever been discovered by high school students before," Vanden Heuvel said. "Ninety-nine percent are discovered by professional researchers."

The students were able to make the discovery thanks in part to technology from Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Mich., Vanden Heuvel's alma mater. They gave the Prairie students complementary, limited access to this technology.

The college has telescopes located in New Mexico that operate remotely and can be controlled over the internet. The telescopes take digital pictures of the sky - about one an hour for four hours each night. The students watched the photos as if they were watching a movie in slow motion, keeping close eye on what changes were taking place in the sky.

The asteroid must be observed two nights in a row in order for it to be considered an official "discovery."

"Asteroids are not easy to spot," Vanden Heuvel said. "They are very faint, about 10,000 times fainter than the faintest thing you can see with your naked eyes. You need to know how to look for them."