A 13-year-old student from London, Ontario, has won one of the highest awards at the Canada-Wide Science Fair after creating a system designed to make asteroid detection easier for citizen scientists. The project, inspired by his own experience discovering asteroids, earned him the Platinum Award for Discovery in the junior category.
The achievement marks a major milestone for Siddharth Patel, a Grade 7 student at Clara Brenton Public School, who has spent years pursuing his interest in astronomy. According to CBC News, he qualified for the national competition after winning gold at the Thames Valley Science and Engineering Fair. His project was titled Automating Asteroid Detection Criteria to Strengthen Citizen Science for Planetary Defense.
Turning Personal Experience Into A Science Project
The idea behind Patel’s award-winning project came directly from his involvement with the International Astronomical Search Collaboration, a NASA-affiliated citizen science initiative. Through the program, participants examine telescope images in search of previously unidentified asteroids.
Patel himself discovered two asteroids while taking part in the initiative. During that experience, he became aware of a challenge affecting many volunteers. As reported by CBC News, he found that 94 % of citizen scientists who join the program eventually drop out because asteroid detection is both complex and time-intensive.
To address that problem, he developed a system called Automated Recognition and Identification of Asteroids (ARIA). The software is intended to help users determine whether faint moving objects visible in telescope images are likely to be asteroids.
“All they have to do is plug in the images … then you just run the program and it will automatically detect all the known asteroids in the image and detect the new asteroids,” Patel explained.
The goal is not to replace citizen scientists but to simplify part of the process, allowing more people to remain involved in asteroid search efforts.
A Surprise Victory At The National Competition
Patel said he had devoted significant time and energy to the project before presenting it at the national fair. Even so, he did not expect to hear his name announced as the winner of the platinum award.
“I’ve been doing this project for so long, working hard every single day, and it’s really paid off,” he said. When the results were revealed, the young student was caught off guard. “When my name was called for platinum, I was seriously not expecting that. I was so shocked, I was about to cry.”
The award recognized his project as the best junior entry in the Discovery category. For Patel, the recognition was tied not only to scientific success but also to the broader purpose behind his work.
“It feels great to actually do something really meaningful in life, like to actually protect the Earth from asteroids,” he said.
A Passion For Astronomy Nurtured From An Early Age
Patel’s passion for astronomy began at a young age as he spent hours observing the night sky from the balcony of his family’s apartment. Although neither of his parents had a background in astronomy, he developed his knowledge through documentaries and online educational content. His interest grew significantly after his father bought him a telescope.
“I could see the sparkle in his eyes and how much he enjoyed it, and ever since then, he’s been hooked on telescopes,” his mother, Rajani Ramsagar, told CBC News.
To support his passion, the family regularly traveled outside London to find darker skies for observation. As stated by the same source, the 13-year-old also earned recognition in astrophotography when his image Milky Way with Comet C/2023 A3 won first place in the people’s choice category ofDarkSky International’s 2025 photography contest. His parents followed his science fair victory from London and said they were especially proud that he had traveled across the country on his own at just 13 years old.
