Local Teen Tracks Asteroid

Tyler Higgs conducts research in Astrophysics at New Mexico Institute of Technology

Socorro, New Mexico – Over 40 intense days this summer, Tyler Higgs of Dieterich, a student at Dieterich High School, operated a research-grade telescope to take images of a near-earth asteroid, then calculated its orbital path, including the chance it will impact Earth in the future.

Higgs participated in the Summer Science Program (SSP) as one of 36 gifted science students who came from around the world for academic challenge, collaboration, and personal growth. Since 1959, this unique and highly selective program has offered teenagers their first taste of hands-on experimental research. Years and even decades later, many alumni describe it as “the educational experience of a lifetime”. Most go on to earn advanced degrees and leadership roles in their chosen careers.

Higgs and his colleagues worked closely with university professors, met prominent guest speakers, and took behind-the-scenes tours of local scientific and cultural sites.

SSP is an independent non-profit, operated in cooperation with Caltech, MIT, New Mexico Tech, Univ. of Colorado at Boulder, and Purdue Univ. For more information visit www.summerscience.org.