Astronomy students at American Fork High School may not realize what an important discovery they have made.

That's according to their teacher, Curtis Craig, who helped guide the students in discovering a new asteroid and measuring three other important near-earth objects. NASA agreed, and presented a plaque to the school and certificates to the 34 students in the class.

American Fork was one of three high schools across the nation to participate in the Killer Asteroid Project. The other two are prep schools, one in North Carolina and the other in Massachusetts. Universities around the world have also been involved in the research.

Students used special software to analyze pictures from space taken in the same locations, but over a period of time. They looked for changes, which would indicate an object is moving. They worked in magnifications of up to 400 times.

Robert Holmes, a research scientist for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Near Earth Object Observations Program, explained the students' participation in the Killer Asteroid Project, a world-wide program.

"The students at American Fork High School downloaded our images from the Internet that were taken by powerful telescopes at our observatory that can see stars 10 million times fainter than you can see with your own eye," he said. "Students in the Killer Asteroid Project made high quality measurements of these important objects that pose a possibility of striking the earth sometime in the future. Our goal in the Killer Asteroid Project is to measure these objects for NASA's Near Earth Object Observations program and help protect the earth from a possible future asteroid or comet impact.

Holmes said the work is important considering the Shoemaker-Levy 9, a comet that slammed into Jupiter a decade ago.

"If this comet had hit the earth instead of Jupiter it would have had devastating results and none of us would be alive today. Most importantly, we have advanced technology to the point that mankind can alter the path of a killer asteroid if we have enough advance notice."

Craig said the earth is often bombarded by dust, vaporized asteroids and meteorites.

"A bigger one, however, has a potential for wiping out cities," Craig said. "There has been a lot of new thought and theory on asteroid impact."

If an asteroid hit the earth in an unpopulated area, it could impact the climate.

"If it struck land it would send enough dust into the atmosphere to make the Earth's climate much colder for several years, affecting weather patterns and causing a shortage in the world food supply," Holmes said.

Craig said it was a good experience for the students to be able to contribute to scientific knowledge instead of just learning about others' research.

"I don't think our students realize the impact they are having in the scientific community," he said. "In real life we don't get to do science in the classroom. Seeing high school students make these significant and globally relevant discoveries is exciting and rewarding."

Karlee Craig, Curtis Craig's daughter, found asteroid K07VK1S. Bryce Tholl found two previously unknown potential killer asteroids and Clinton McClesky found a third last fall.

Curtis Craig said he was pleased to work with all the students.

"It is humbling," he said. "You feel like you have a great responsibility. You have been given a chance to do something that graduate students across the United States would think they have died and gone to heaven to be able to do this research."

The discoveries match the goals of many scientists.

"It is what we dream of doing," Craig said.

The observations the students made have been published at Harvard University at the Minor Planet Center.

In 2004, an asteroid named Apophis missed the earth by the relatively short distance of 24,000 miles, with only three days warning.

"The approach was so close that the earth's gravity deflected the 885-foot diameter asteroid with a speed over 50,000 miles an hour," Holmes said. "It approached so closely that the earth changed the orbit of the asteroid by 15 degrees as it passed by. Three days warning isn't enough time to avert a disaster by a large asteroid capable of doing very serious damage."

Apophis is anticipated to return April 13, 2029 and may pass nearer to the earth than the satellites that transmit television programs, he said.