NASA has developed a novel computer software that can help amateur astronomers and citizen scientists detect new asteroids in an efficient way.
Analysis of images taken of our solar system's main belt asteroids between Mars and Jupiter using the algorithm showed a 15 per cent increase in positive identification of new asteroids.
The application, developed in partnership with Planetary Resources, Inc, of Redmond, Washington, is based on an Asteroid Data Hunter-derived algorithm that analyses images for potential asteroids.
The Asteroid Data Hunter challenge was part of NASA's Asteroid Grand Challenge.
"The Asteroid Grand Challenge is seeking non-traditional partnerships to bring the citizen science and space enthusiast community into NASA's work," said Jason Kessler, programme executive for NASA's Asteroid Grand Challenge.
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.
With more telescopes scanning the sky, the ever-increasing volume of data makes it impossible for astronomers to verify each detection by hand.
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.
"The beauty of such archives is that the data doesn't grow stale, and with novel approaches, techniques and algorithms, they can be harvested for new information," said Jose Luis Galache of the Minor Planet Center (MPC), at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
"The participants of the Asteroid Data Hunter challenge did just that, probing observations of the night sky for new asteroids that might have slipped through the software cracks the first time the images were analysed," said Galache.
"Moreover, this software can now be used to analyse new images and is available to any observer who wants to use it," Galache added.
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 analyse 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 MPC, which then confirms and archives new discoveries.
Through NASA's asteroid initiative, the agency seeks to enhance its ongoing work in the identification and characterisation of near-Earth objects.
This includes locating potentially hazardous asteroids and identifying those viable for redirection to a stable lunar orbit for future exploration by astronauts using NASA's Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft.
