During
a panel discussion Sunday at the South by Southwest Festival in
Austin, Texas, NASA representatives discussed how citizen scientists
have made a difference in hunting down potentially hazardous
asteroids in space. They also announced the release of a desktop
software application developed by NASA in partnership with Planetary
Resources, Inc., of Redmond, Wash. The application is based on an
Asteroid Data Hunter-derived algorithm that analyzes images for
potential asteroids. It’s a tool that can be used by amateur
astronomers and citizen scientists.
The
software has the potential to increase the number of new asteroid
discoveries by amateur astronomers.
Analysis
of images taken of our solar system’s belt asteroids between
Mars and Jupiter using the algorithm showed a 15 percent increase in
positive identification of new asteroids.
“We
are extremely encouraged by the algorithm created and it’s already
making a difference. This increase in knowledge will help assess more
quickly which asteroids are potential threats, human destinations or
resource rich,” said Chris Lewicki, president and chief engineer at
Planetary Resources.
Astronomers
find asteroids by taking images of the same place in the sky and
looking for star-like objects that move between frames, an approach
that has been used since before Pluto was discovered in 1930. This
new algorithm gives astronomers the ability to use computers to
autonomously and rapidly check the images and determine which objects
are suitable for follow up, which leads to finding more asteroids
than previously possible.
“Moreover,
this software can now be used to analyze new images and is available
to any observer who wants to use it,” said Jose Luis Galache of the
Minor Planet Center.
The
desktop software application is free and can be used on any basic
desktop or laptop computer. Amateur astronomers may take images from
their telescopes and analyze them with the application. The
application will tell the user whether a matching asteroid record
exists and offer a way to report new findings to the Minor Planet
Center, which then confirms and archives new discoveries.
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