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Active Asteroids (citizen science project)

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Active Asteroids
Type of site
Citizen science project
Available inEnglish
URLwww.zooniverse.org/projects/orionnau/active-asteroids
CommercialNo
RegistrationOptional
Launched31 August 2021;
3 years ago (2021-08-31)
Current statusOnline

Active Asteroids is a NASA partner citizen science project that successfully discovered active asteroids, including main-belt comets, quasi-Hilda objects, and Jupiter family comets. The project is hosted on the Zooniverse platform and is funded by a NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program. It uses images from the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) to search for tails around asteroids and other minor planets. The research team is led by Colin Orion Chandler.[1][2][3] As of April 2024 about 8300 volunteers carried out 6.7 million classifications of 430 thousand images. At the time only 60 active asteroids were known and 16 new active objects were discovered by this project, significantly increasing the sample of known objects.[2]

Pre-launch preparation

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Before the team launched the project, the team gained experience with DECam and published three papers.[4] These include detection of activity around previously known active asteroid (62412) 2000 SY178,[5] revealing 6 years of avtivity on (6478) Gault[6] and activity discovered on the centaur 2014 OG392.[7]

Discoveries

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DECam image showing the activity on 282P, which was first identified by citizen scientists for this image.

The project uses a pipeline called HARVEST, which compares metadata from astronomical image archives with the data from the Minor Planet Center and produces images at positions of minor planets. It also excludes images with no detection or images that cannot detect asteroids.[8] Since February 2024 the team also used a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN), called TailNet, to filter out bad images before they are shown to volunteers and to identify high-likely candidates. This CNN uses classification-labels made by the volunteers and is constantly improved with new classifications.[9] One of the first discovery was made in September 2022, when the team published a paper describing that 282P/(323137) 2003 BM80 showed sustained activity over 15 months in 2021-2022. Activity was previously reported in 2012-2013 and the team analysed the orbit, finding that it is an outbursting quasi-Hilda object.[3]

List of discoveries

[edit]
Name family type of activity year-month of disovery Reference Previous discovery of activity
2015 TC1 Jupiter-family comet 2022-01 [8][2] no
2017 QN84 Jupiter-family comet 2022-01 [8][2] no
282P quasi-Hilda object (former Centaur or Jupiter-family comet) volatile sublimation 2013-06/2022-09 [3] yes, Bolin et al.[10]
2015 FW412 main-belt comet candidate sublimation 2023-02 [11][2] no
2015 VA108 main-belt comet candidate volatile sublimation 2023-02 [12] no
2009 DQ118 quasi-Hilda object (former Jupiter family comet or Centaur) sublimation of volatile ices 2023-03 [13][14] no
2010 LH15 (aka 2010 TJ175) main-belt comet 2023-03 [15] no
(588045) 2007 FZ18 main-belt comet candidate two tails 2023-05 [16] no
2018 CZ16 quasi-Hilda object thermally driven activity indicative of water-ice sublimation 2023-05 [17] no
2005 XR132 Jupiter-family comet 2021-04/2023-07 [18][19] yes, Cheng et al.[20]
2004 CV50 quasi-Hilda object 2023-11 [21] no
(551023) 2012 UQ192 Jupiter-family Comet recurrently active, sublimation 2023-12 [22][2] no
2019 OE31 vacationing Centaur volatile sublimation 2023-12 [23] no
2008 QZ44 Jupiter-family comet 2023-12 [24] no
2018 VL10 Jupiter-family comet (Mars crossing) 2023-12 [25] no
2018 OR Jupiter-family comet (Mars crossing) 2024-01 [26][2] no
(410590) 2008 GB140 main-belt comet candidate 2024-02 TailNet identified activity[27] no
2016 UU121 main-belt comet candidate 2024-02 TailNet identified activity[9] no
2011 UG104 Jupiter-family comet 2024-05 TailNet identified activity[28] no
2015 VP51 Jupiter-family comet suspected sublimation 2024-09 TailNet filtered, identified by citizen scientists[29] no
2010 MK43 (aka 2010 RA78) Jupiter-family comet (former quasi-Hilda object) 2024-09 TailNet filtered, identified by citizen scientists[30] no

See also

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other citizen science projects researching minor planets:

other citizen science projects

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Zooniverse - Active Asteroids - team". www.zooniverse.org. Retrieved 2024-11-17.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Chandler, Colin Orion; Trujillo, Chadwick A.; Oldroyd, William J.; Kueny, Jay K.; Burris, William A.; Hsieh, Henry H.; DeSpain, Jarod A.; Sedaghat, Nima; Sheppard, Scott S.; Farrell, Kennedy A.; Trilling, David E.; Gustafsson, Annika; Magbanua, Mark Jesus Mendoza; Mazzucato, Michele T.; Bosch, Milton K. D. (2024-04-01). "The Active Asteroids Citizen Science Program: Overview and First Results". The Astronomical Journal. 167 (4): 156. arXiv:2403.09768. Bibcode:2024AJ....167..156C. doi:10.3847/1538-3881/ad1de2. ISSN 0004-6256.
  3. ^ a b c Chandler, Colin Orion; Oldroyd, William J.; Trujillo, Chadwick A. (2022-09-01). "Migratory Outbursting Quasi-Hilda Object 282P/(323137) 2003 BM80". The Astrophysical Journal. 937 (1): L2. arXiv:2208.08592. Bibcode:2022ApJ...937L...2C. doi:10.3847/2041-8213/ac897a. ISSN 0004-637X.
  4. ^ "Zooniverse - Active Asteroids - research". www.zooniverse.org. Retrieved 2024-11-17.
  5. ^ Chandler, Colin Orion; Curtis, Anthony M.; Mommert, Michael; Sheppard, Scott S.; Trujillo, Chadwick A. (2018-11-01). "SAFARI: Searching Asteroids for Activity Revealing Indicators". Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. 130 (993): 114502. arXiv:1807.00831. Bibcode:2018PASP..130k4502C. doi:10.1088/1538-3873/aad03d. ISSN 0004-6280.
  6. ^ Chandler, Colin Orion; Kueny, Jay; Gustafsson, Annika; Trujillo, Chadwick A.; Robinson, Tyler D.; Trilling, David E. (2019-05-01). "Six Years of Sustained Activity in (6478) Gault". The Astrophysical Journal. 877 (1): L12. Bibcode:2019ApJ...877L..12C. doi:10.3847/2041-8213/ab1aaa. ISSN 0004-637X.
  7. ^ Chandler, Colin Orion; Kueny, Jay K.; Trujillo, Chadwick A.; Trilling, David E.; Oldroyd, William J. (2020-04-01). "Cometary Activity Discovered on a Distant Centaur: A Nonaqueous Sublimation Mechanism". The Astrophysical Journal. 892 (2): L38. arXiv:2003.04904. Bibcode:2020ApJ...892L..38C. doi:10.3847/2041-8213/ab7dc6. ISSN 0004-637X.
  8. ^ a b c Chandler, Colin Orion (2022-01-01). Chasing Tails: Active Asteroid, Centaur, and Quasi-Hilda Discovery with Astroinformatics and Citizen Science (Thesis). arXiv:2208.12364. Bibcode:2022PhDT........13C. ProQuest 2718159530.
  9. ^ a b Sedaghat, Nima; Chandler, Colin Orion; Oldroyd, William J.; Trujillo, Chadwick A.; Burris, William A.; Hsieh, Henry H.; Kueny, Jay K.; Farrell, Kennedy A.; DeSpain, Jarod A.; Magbanua, Mark Jesus Mendoza; Sheppard, Scott S.; Mazzucato, Michele T.; Bosch, Milton K. D.; Shaw-Diaz, Tiffany; Gonano, Virgilio (2024-02-01). "2016 UU121: An Active Asteroid Discovery via AI-enhanced Citizen Science". Research Notes of the American Astronomical Society. 8 (2): 51. Bibcode:2024RNAAS...8...51S. doi:10.3847/2515-5172/ad2b66. ISSN 2515-5172.
  10. ^ Bolin, B.; Denneau, L.; Veres, P.; Hsieh, H.; Micheli, M.; Wainscoat, R.; Wells, L.; Skiff, B.; Williams, G. V. (2013-06-01). "Comet P/2003 BM_80 = (323137) 2003 BM_80". Central Bureau Electronic Telegrams. 3559: 1. Bibcode:2013CBET.3559....1B.
  11. ^ Chandler, Colin Orion; Trujillo, Chadwick A.; Oldroyd, William J.; Kueny, Jay K.; Burris, William A.; Hsieh, Henry H.; Mazzucato, Michele T.; Bosch, Milton K. D.; Shaw-Diaz, Tiffany (2023-02-01). "Discovery of Dust Emission Activity Emanating from Main-belt Asteroid 2015 FW412". Research Notes of the American Astronomical Society. 7 (2): 22. arXiv:2302.07274. Bibcode:2023RNAAS...7...22C. doi:10.3847/2515-5172/acbb69. ISSN 2515-5172.
  12. ^ Chandler, Colin Orion; Oldroyd, William J.; Trujillo, Chadwick A.; Burris, William A.; Hsieh, Henry H.; Kueny, Jay K.; Mazzucato, Michele T.; Bosch, Milton K. D.; Shaw-Diaz, Tiffany (2023-02-01). "New Active Asteroid 2015 VA108: A Citizen Science Discovery". Research Notes of the American Astronomical Society. 7 (2): 27. arXiv:2302.12722. Bibcode:2023RNAAS...7...27C. doi:10.3847/2515-5172/acbbce. ISSN 2515-5172.
  13. ^ Oldroyd, William J.; Chandler, Colin Orion; Trujillo, Chadwick A.; Burris, William A.; Kueny, Jay K.; Hsieh, Henry H.; Farrell, Kennedy A.; DeSpain, Jarod A.; Mazzucato, Michele T.; Bosch, Milton K. D.; Shaw-Diaz, Tiffany; Gonano, Virgilio (2023-03-01). "Comet-like Activity Discovered on Quasi-Hilda Asteroid 2009 DQ118". Research Notes of the American Astronomical Society. 7 (3): 42. Bibcode:2023RNAAS...7...42O. doi:10.3847/2515-5172/acc17c. ISSN 2515-5172.
  14. ^ Oldroyd, William J.; Chandler, Colin Orion; Trujillo, Chadwick A.; Sheppard, Scott S.; Hsieh, Henry H.; Kueny, Jay K.; Burris, William A.; DeSpain, Jarod A.; Farrell, Kennedy A.; Mazzucato, Michele T.; Bosch, Milton K. D.; Shaw-Diaz, Tiffany; Gonano, Virgilio (2023-11-01). "Recurring Activity Discovered on Quasi-Hilda 2009 DQ118". The Astrophysical Journal. 957 (1): L1. arXiv:2311.02160. Bibcode:2023ApJ...957L...1O. doi:10.3847/2041-8213/acfcbc. ISSN 0004-637X.
  15. ^ Chandler, Colin Orion; Oldroyd, William J.; Hsieh, Henry H.; Trujillo, Chadwick A.; Burris, William A.; Kueny, Jay K.; DeSpain, Jarod A.; Farrell, Kennedy A.; Mazzucato, Michele T.; Bosch, Milton K. D.; Shaw-Diaz, Tiffany; Gonano, Virgilio (2023-03-01). "New Recurrently Active Main-belt Comet 2010 LH15". Research Notes of the American Astronomical Society. 7 (3): 60. arXiv:2303.12102. Bibcode:2023RNAAS...7...60C. doi:10.3847/2515-5172/acc57e. ISSN 2515-5172.
  16. ^ Chandler, Colin Orion; Oldroyd, William J.; Hsieh, Henry H.; Trujillo, Chadwick A.; Burris, William A.; Kueny, Jay K.; DeSpain, Jarod A.; Farrell, Kennedy A.; Mazzucato, Michele T.; Bosch, Milton K. D.; Shaw-Diaz, Tiffany; Gonano, Virgilio (2023-05-01). "New Active Asteroid (588045) 2007 FZ18". Research Notes of the American Astronomical Society. 7 (5): 102. Bibcode:2023RNAAS...7..102C. doi:10.3847/2515-5172/acd768. ISSN 2515-5172.
  17. ^ Trujillo, Chadwick A.; Chandler, Colin Orion; Oldroyd, William J.; Burris, William A.; Hsieh, Henry H.; Kueny, Jay K.; Mazzucato, Michele T.; Bosch, Milton K. D.; Shaw-Diaz, Tiffany; Gonano, Virgilio (2023-05-01). "Cometary Activity on Quasi-Hilda Object 2018 CZ16". Research Notes of the American Astronomical Society. 7 (5): 106. Bibcode:2023RNAAS...7..106T. doi:10.3847/2515-5172/acd7f0. ISSN 2515-5172.
  18. ^ Chandler, Colin Orion; Oldroyd, William J.; Trujillo, Chadwick A.; Hsieh, Henry H.; Burris, William A.; Kueny, Jay K.; DeSpain, Jarod A.; Farrell, Kennedy A.; Magbanua, M. J. M.; Sheppard, Scott S.; Mazzucato, Michele T.; Bosch, Milton K. D.; Shaw-Diaz, Tiffany; Gonano, Virgilio (2023-07-01). "A Jupiter-family Comet Discovery via Citizen Science: 2005 XR132". Research Notes of the American Astronomical Society. 7 (7): 146. Bibcode:2023RNAAS...7..146C. doi:10.3847/2515-5172/ace5ad. ISSN 2515-5172.
  19. ^ Chandler, Colin Orion; Oldroyd, William J.; Trujillo, Chadwick A.; Hsieh, Henry H.; Burris, William A.; Kueny, Jay K.; DeSpain, Jarod A.; Farrell, Kennedy A.; Magbanua, M. J. M.; Sheppard, Scott S.; Mazzucato, Michele T.; Bosch, Milton K. D.; Shaw-Diaz, Tiffany; Gonano, Virgilio (2023-08-01). "Erratum: "A Jupiter-family Comet Discovery via Citizen Science: 2005 XR132" (2023, RNAAS, 7, 146)". Research Notes of the American Astronomical Society. 7 (8): 170. Bibcode:2023RNAAS...7..170C. doi:10.3847/2515-5172/aced99. ISSN 2515-5172.
  20. ^ Cheng, Yu-Chi; Hou, Wei-Jie; Ip, Wing-Huen (2021-04-01). "Cometary Activity on Asteroid 2005 XR132 Observed at Lulin Observatory". The Astronomer's Telegram. 14522: 1. Bibcode:2021ATel14522....1C.
  21. ^ Chandler, Colin Orion; Oldroyd, William J.; Trujillo, Chadwick A.; Burris, William A.; Hsieh, Henry H.; Kueny, Jay K.; Farrell, Kennedy A.; DeSpain, Jarod A.; Sedaghat, Nima; Mendoza Magbanua, Mark Jesus; Sheppard, Scott S.; Mazzucato, Michele T.; Bosch, Milton K. D.; Shaw-Diaz, Tiffany; Gonano, Virgilio (2023-11-01). "New Active Quasi-Hilda Asteroid 2004 CV50: A Citizen Science Discovery". Research Notes of the American Astronomical Society. 7 (11): 237. Bibcode:2023RNAAS...7..237C. doi:10.3847/2515-5172/ad09c1. ISSN 2515-5172.
  22. ^ DeSpain, Jarod A.; Chandler, Colin Orion; Oldroyd, William J.; Hsieh, Henry H.; Trujillo, Chadwick A.; Burris, William A.; Kueny, Jay K.; Farrell, Kennedy A.; Mendoza Magbanua, Mark Jesus; Sedaghat, Nima; Sheppard, Scott S.; Mazzucato, Michele T.; Bosch, Milton K. D.; Shaw-Diaz, Tiffany; Gonano, Virgilio (2023-12-01). "Citizen Science Discovery of a Recurrently Active Jupiter-Family Comet: (551023) 2012 UQ192". Research Notes of the American Astronomical Society. 7 (12): 257. Bibcode:2023RNAAS...7..257D. doi:10.3847/2515-5172/ad0ed6. ISSN 2515-5172.
  23. ^ Oldroyd, William J.; Chandler, Colin Orion; Trujillo, Chadwick A.; Deen, Sam; Hsieh, Henry H.; Farrell, Kennedy A.; DeSpain, Jarod A.; Kueny, Jay K.; Burris, William A.; Sheppard, Scott S.; Sedaghat, Nima; Magbanua, Mark Jesus Mendoza; Mazzucato, Michele T.; Bosch, Milton K. D.; Shaw-Diaz, Tiffany (2023-12-01). "Cometary Activity Discovered on Vacationing Centaur 2019 OE31". Research Notes of the American Astronomical Society. 7 (12): 270. Bibcode:2023RNAAS...7..270O. doi:10.3847/2515-5172/ad14f5. ISSN 2515-5172.
  24. ^ Chandler, Colin Orion; Oldroyd, William J.; Trujillo, Chadwick A.; Hsieh, Henry H.; Sedaghat, Nima; Kueny, Jay K.; Burris, William A.; DeSpain, Jarod A.; Farrell, Kennedy A.; Magbanua, Mark Jesus Mendoza; Sheppard, Scott S.; Mazzucato, Michele T.; Bosch, Milton K. D.; Shaw-Diaz, Tiffany; Gonano, Virgilio (2023-12-01). "New Active Jupiter Family Comet 2008 QZ44: a Discovery with Citizen Science". Research Notes of the American Astronomical Society. 7 (12): 271. Bibcode:2023RNAAS...7..271C. doi:10.3847/2515-5172/ad14f6. ISSN 2515-5172.
  25. ^ Chandler, Colin Orion; Oldroyd, William J.; Trujillo, Chadwick A.; Hsieh, Henry H.; Burris, William A.; Kueny, Jay K.; DeSpain, Jarod A.; Sedaghat, Nima; Farrell, Kennedy A.; Magbanua, Mark Jesus Mendoza; Sheppard, Scott S.; Mazzucato, Michele T.; Bosch, Milton K. D.; Shaw-Diaz, Tiffany; Gonano, Virgilio (2023-12-01). "Mars-Crossing Minor Planet 2018 VL10: a Jupiter-family Comet Discovery via Citizen Science". Research Notes of the American Astronomical Society. 7 (12): 279. Bibcode:2023RNAAS...7..279C. doi:10.3847/2515-5172/ad1682. ISSN 2515-5172.
  26. ^ Farrell, Kennedy A.; Chandler, Colin Orion; Oldroyd, William J.; Trujillo, Chadwick A.; Burris, William A.; Hsieh, Henry H.; Kueny, Jay K.; DeSpain, Jarod A.; Mendoza Magbanua, Mark Jesus; Sedaghat, Nima; Sheppard, Scott S.; Mazzucato, Michele T.; Bosch, Milton K. D.; Shaw-Diaz, Tiffany; Gonano, Virgilio (2024-01-01). "Activity Discovered on Mars-Crossing Jupiter Family Comet 2018 OR by Citizen Scientists". Research Notes of the American Astronomical Society. 8 (1): 18. Bibcode:2024RNAAS...8...18F. doi:10.3847/2515-5172/ad1c66. ISSN 2515-5172.
  27. ^ Chandler, Colin Orion; Sedaghat, Nima; Oldroyd, William J.; Trujillo, Chadwick A.; Burris, William A.; Hsieh, Henry H.; Kueny, Jay K.; Farrell, Kennedy A.; DeSpain, Jarod A.; Magbanua, Mark Jesus Mendoza; Sheppard, Scott S.; Mazzucato, Michele T.; Bosch, Milton K. D.; Shaw-Diaz, Tiffany; Gonano, Virgilio (2024-02-01). "AI-enhanced Citizen Science Discovery of an Active Asteroid: (410590) 2008 GB140". Research Notes of the American Astronomical Society. 8 (2): 50. Bibcode:2024RNAAS...8...50C. doi:10.3847/2515-5172/ad2b67. ISSN 2515-5172.
  28. ^ DeSpain, Jarod A.; Chandler, Colin Orion; Sedaghat, Nima; Oldroyd, William J.; Trujillo, Chadwick A.; Burris, William A.; Hsieh, Henry H.; Kueny, Jay K.; Farrell, Kennedy A.; Magbanua, Mark Jesus Mendoza; Sheppard, Scott S.; Mazzucato, Michele T.; Bosch, Milton K. D.; Shaw-Diaz, Tiffany; Gonano, Virgilio (2024-05-01). "Discovery of Jupiter Family Comet 2011 UG104 Through AI Enhanced Citizen Science". Research Notes of the American Astronomical Society. 8 (5): 140. Bibcode:2024RNAAS...8..140D. doi:10.3847/2515-5172/ad4d9c. ISSN 2515-5172.
  29. ^ Frissell, Maxwell K.; Chandler, Colin Orion; Oldroyd, William J.; Trujillo, Chadwick A.; Sedaghat, Nima; Burris, William A.; Kueny, Jay K.; DeSpain, Jarod A.; Farrell, Kennedy A.; Hsieh, Henry H.; Magbanua, Mark Jesus Mendoza; Sheppard, Scott S.; Mazzucato, Michele T.; Bosch, Milton K. D.; Shaw-Diaz, Tiffany (2024-09-01). "Cometary Activity from Minor Planet 2015 VP51 Discovered with Citizen Science". Research Notes of the American Astronomical Society. 8 (9): 225. Bibcode:2024RNAAS...8..225F. doi:10.3847/2515-5172/ad7854. ISSN 2515-5172.
  30. ^ Kueny, Jay K.; Chandler, Colin Orion; Frissell, Maxwell K.; Oldroyd, William J.; Trujillo, Chadwick A.; Burris, William A.; Farrell, Kennedy A.; Sedaghat, Nima; Hsieh, Henry H.; DeSpain, Jarod A.; Magbanua, Mark Jesus Mendoza; Sheppard, Scott S.; Mazzucato, Michele T.; Bosch, Milton K. D.; Shaw-Diaz, Tiffany (2024-09-01). "Citizen Scientists Discover "Asteroid in a Cometary Orbit" 2010 MK43 has a Comet Tail". Research Notes of the American Astronomical Society. 8 (9): 235. Bibcode:2024RNAAS...8..235K. doi:10.3847/2515-5172/ad7c50. ISSN 2515-5172.
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