Solar system montage with eight planets

Lana Nguyen, age 13

Aether

Justification for the name: "The asteroid should be named this because of it's symbolism to the god, Aether. In Greek mythology, Aether is the god that embodies the upper earth; the skies where the gods live. He also represents light, which is the direct translation in Greek. The way I see it, this sky is always out there, yet out of our reach since we are mere mortals. This could relate to the fact of how this asteroid has always been orbiting around earth, remaining as a future threat, yet out of our reach and beyond our knowledge.Throughout time, humans have constantly tried to surpass our mortal limits and achieve godhood; This in a sense is how we are trying to retrieve this asteroid from the mysterious world of space. Aether represents light, and by retrieving this asteroid we are hoping to gain intelligence and knowledge that is not known by us; we are hoping that it will "shed some light on us"."

What do you want to see next in space? "Last year I learned a lot about possible planets with the Goldilocks Zone, so I'd be really interested to find out about more planets which housed the possibility for life. It would be amazing if we could find evidence of life in planets other than Earth."