On March 17, 2026, I presented my research at the 57th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (LPSC 2026), held in The Woodlands, Texas. The Conference brought together thousands of researchers from space agencies, universities, and observatories to share the latest findings on planets, moons, asteroids, and the solar system.

My research abstract, "Physical Characterization of Potentially Hazardous Asteroid 2025 FA22: Rotational Period, Shape, and Taxonomy," was accepted for an oral presentation in the session  "New Eyes on Small Bodies: Rapid Rotators, Comets, and Spectral Insights from Modern Surveys." Presenting remotely to a room of professional scientists as a Grade 11 student from Toronto was meaningful for me, as the asteroid 2025 FA22 I researched was only discovered a year ago, and the data I was presenting was all new data and findings.

Asteroid 2025 FA22: Reasons behind its selection

Asteroid 2025 FA22 was discovered in March 2025 by the Pan-STARRS 2 telescope in Hawaii. On September 18, 2025, the asteroid deemed "potentially hazardous" passed Earth at approximately 0.005 AU or roughly 2 lunar distances. Early orbit solutions briefly assigned it a Torino Scale level 1, a flag that indicates an object deserves closer attention.
 
This emerging scenario attracted my attention as I have been pursuing research on near-Earth asteroids for several years. My earlier research developed open-source photometric algorithms to characterize the Didymos binary asteroid system and measure the success of NASA's DART Mission. Using my observations from a network of remote telescopes, I had generated lightcurves of the Didymos binary system before, during, and after the impact to measure the change in mutual orbital period. 2025 FA22 was another opportunity to apply and improve those methods in real time. Interestingly, the International Asteroid Warning Network (IAWN) also started a global campaign to observe this asteroid, and I shared my observations with them. Their report is still forthcoming.

 

The close approach of the asteroid to Earth was an observing challenge. At its closest, 2025 FA22 was racing across the sky at nearly 3 arcseconds per second. This was fast enough that a fixed exposure would smear the asteroid into a streak rather than a point of light. I had to dynamically adjust exposure times between 4 and 120 seconds across different nights to match the change in the asteroid's angular speed for precise photometric measurements.  To ensure that the asteroid does not keep disappearing from my field of view very quickly and requires a fresh ensemble of comparison stars, I tested a new strategy. I kept the asteroid close to the diagonal edge of the field of view so that it stayed for the longest possible time in the same field of view, and that strategy worked in improving photometric calculations. 
 
I observed over six nights between September 19–26, 2025, using the 0.305-m Ritchey-Chrétien telescope at MonitorMyPlanet Observatory (MPC R60) in Nerpio, Spain, which I operate remotely from Toronto. The full dataset comprises more than 3,000 CCD images and approximately 35 hours of on-sky integration, obtained primarily in the R band. I also undertook multi-filter BVRI observations on one night to characterize the asteroid's surface colors. Differential aperture photometry was performed using Tycho Tracker with a nightly ensemble of comparison stars. 

Period analysis of the R-band brightness variations revealed a well-defined synodic rotation period of 13.075 ± 0.002 hours, or the time it takes the asteroid to complete one full rotation. The composite lightcurve shows a stable double-peaked morphology, the classic signature of an elongated body rotating in principal-axis spin.
 
The peak-to-peak amplitude was 0.62 magnitudes, and modeling the asteroid as a triaxial ellipsoid suggested a minimum equatorial axis ratio of a/b ≳ 1.77, meaning 2025 FA22 is at least 77% longer along its longest axis than its shortest. It was not a sphere or a lumpy potato but more like a stretched dumbbell or a rugby ball.
 
From my work on the NASA DART Mission, I knew that shape matters for planetary defense. An elongated object behaves differently from a compact sphere when struck by a kinetic impactor: the momentum transfer efficiency, the ejecta geometry, and the orbital response all depend on the body's shape and rotation state. Understanding these properties in advance enables us to plan an effective deflection mission.
 
Reduced-magnitude analysis over solar phase angles of ~25°–60° yielded a conditional R-band absolute magnitude of H_R ≈ 21.05 ± 0.28, and the BVRI color indices place the asteroid within the silicate S-cluster. S-complex asteroids are among the most common near-Earth objects and are consistent with a moderately weathered, silicate-rich surface, likely related to the ordinary chondrite meteorite family. 

There were 6 oral presentations of 10 minutes in the session I presented. At the end, there was a Questions and Answers session for 25 minutes.

Dmitrii Vavilov opened with early results from the Rubin Observatory's first-look survey:  a dataset already yielding thousands of asteroid detections, including rare ultra-fast and ultra-slow rotators. Hearing the scale of what Rubin will eventually contribute made me think carefully about how citizen science fits into the bigger picture: Rubin will discover objects faster than any team can characterize them, which is precisely why distributed, independent observers matter.

Hal Weaver presented simultaneous Lucy spacecraft and ground-based observations of comet 3I/ATLAS - the interstellar comet I had contributed astrometry observations to through an IAWN campaign just months earlier. Seeing that thread connect was genuinely exciting.

Other talks covered JWST comet imaging, SPHEREx solar system results, and a spectral study of hydrated asteroid families tracing organic matter distribution during aqueous alteration — a window into the early solar system's chemistry.

My talk was the closing presentation before the Panel Q&A.  A copy of my presentation is available at:  https://lpsc2026.vfairs.com/en/hall#webinar-2957162. My presentation went for around 8 minutes and I confidently presented my data, methodology, results, and discussions.

 I received two questions. The first was about my methodology for estimating the axis ratio — specifically, how well the amplitude-to-shape relationship holds when you account for viewing geometry and possible albedo variations across the surface. I explained that the a/b ≳ 1.77 figure is a lower bound derived under the most favorable assumptions, and that the true elongation could be larger. The second was about the criteria I use to select targets. I explained that I prioritize objects flagged through IAWN campaigns, those with minimal existing characterization, and those where a single observer with modest equipment can genuinely fill a gap in the scientific record.
 
I also had the chance to ask questions to other presenters. I asked Dmitrii Vavilov whether the Rubin data had revealed any evidence of binary asteroid systems - objects with a small companion moon. I am fascinated with binary asteroids, which are one of the most understudied objects, as they require long observation baselines. The question of how common binary systems are among near-Earth asteroids has real implications for deflection planning, since a moonlet changes the dynamics significantly.

I enjoyed the opportunity to present orally at LPSC and be able to confidently answer all the questions related to my research. My research continues with new asteroids in the pipeline, and I hope to be back at the LPSC to present my new research next year.

Link to Abstract: https://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2026/pdf/1344.pdf
Link to Presentation: 
Link to Presentation Video (requires login):  https://lpsc2026.vfairs.com/en/hall#webinar-2957162