Digital tracking cloud distributed architecture for detection of faint NEAs

There is an exponential volume of captured images, millions of captures taken every night being processed and scrutinized. Big Data analysis has become essential for the study of the solar system, discovery and orbital knowledge of the asteroids. This analysis often requires more advanced algorithms capable of processing the available data and solve the essential problems in almost real time. One such problem that needs very rapid investigation involves the detection of Near Earth Asteroids (NEAs) and their orbit refinement which should answer the question "will the Earth collide in the future with any hazardous asteroid?". This paper proposes a cloud distributed architecture meant to render near real-time results, focusing on the image stacking techniques aimed to detect very faint moving objects, and pairing of unknown objects with known orbits for asteroid discovery and identification

NEARBY Platform for Detecting Asteroids in Astronomical Images Using Cloud-based Containerized Applications

The continuing monitoring and surveying of the nearby space to detect Near Earth Objects (NEOs) and Near Earth Asteroids (NEAs) are essential because of the threats that this kind of objects impose on the future of our planet. We need more computational resources and advanced algorithms to deal with the exponential growth of the digital cameras' performances and to be able to process (in near real-time) data coming from large surveys. This paper presents a software platform called NEARBY that supports automated detection of moving sources (asteroids) among stars from astronomical images. The detection procedure is based on the classic "blink" detection and, after that, the system supports visual analysis techniques to validate the moving sources, assisted by static and dynamical presentations.Comment: IEEE 14th International Conference on Intelligent Computer Communication and Processing (ICCP), Cluj-Napoca, Romani

Comet/Asteroid Protection System (CAPS): Preliminary Space-Based Concept and Study Results

There exists an infrequent, but significant hazard to life and property due to impacting asteroids and comets. There is currently no specific search for long-period comets, smaller near-Earth asteroids, or smaller short-period comets. These objects represent a threat with potentially little or no warning time using conventional ground-based telescopes. These planetary bodies also represent a significant resource for commercial exploitation, long-term sustained space exploration, and scientific research. The Comet/Asteroid Protection System (CAPS) is a future space-based system concept that provides permanent, continuous asteroid and comet monitoring, and rapid, controlled modification of the orbital trajectories of selected bodies. CAPS would expand the current detection effort to include long-period comets, as well as small asteroids and short-period comets capable of regional destruction. A space-based detection system, despite being more costly and complex than Earth-based initiatives, is the most promising way of expanding the range of detectable objects, and surveying the entire celestial sky on a regular basis. CAPS would provide an orbit modification system capable of diverting kilometer class objects, and modifying the orbits of smaller asteroids for impact defense and resource utilization. This Technical Memorandum provides a compilation of key related topics and analyses performed during the CAPS study, which was performed under the Revolutionary Aerospace Systems Concepts (RASC) program, and discusses technologies that could enable the implementation of this future system

LSST Science Book, Version 2.0

A survey that can cover the sky in optical bands over wide fields to faint magnitudes with a fast cadence will enable many of the exciting science opportunities of the next decade. The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) will have an effective aperture of 6.7 meters and an imaging camera with field of view of 9.6 deg^2, and will be devoted to a ten-year imaging survey over 20,000 deg^2 south of +15 deg. Each pointing will be imaged 2000 times with fifteen second exposures in six broad bands from 0.35 to 1.1 microns, to a total point-source depth of r~27.5. The LSST Science Book describes the basic parameters of the LSST hardware, software, and observing plans. The book discusses educational and outreach opportunities, then goes on to describe a broad range of science that LSST will revolutionize: mapping the inner and outer Solar System, stellar populations in the Milky Way and nearby galaxies, the structure of the Milky Way disk and halo and other objects in the Local Volume, transient and variable objects both at low and high redshift, and the properties of normal and active galaxies at low and high redshift. It then turns to far-field cosmological topics, exploring properties of supernovae to z~1, strong and weak lensing, the large-scale distribution of galaxies and baryon oscillations, and how these different probes may be combined to constrain cosmological models and the physics of dark energy.Comment: 596 pages. Also available at full resolution at http://www.lsst.org/lsst/sciboo

LSST Science Book, Version 2.0

A survey that can cover the sky in optical bands over wide fields to faint magnitudes with a fast cadence will enable many of the exciting science opportunities of the next decade. The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) will have an effective aperture of 6.7 meters and an imaging camera with field of view of 9.6 deg^2, and will be devoted to a ten-year imaging survey over 20,000 deg^2 south of +15 deg. Each pointing will be imaged 2000 times with fifteen second exposures in six broad bands from 0.35 to 1.1 microns, to a total point-source depth of r~27.5. The LSST Science Book describes the basic parameters of the LSST hardware, software, and observing plans. The book discusses educational and outreach opportunities, then goes on to describe a broad range of science that LSST will revolutionize: mapping the inner and outer Solar System, stellar populations in the Milky Way and nearby galaxies, the structure of the Milky Way disk and halo and other objects in the Local Volume, transient and variable objects both at low and high redshift, and the properties of normal and active galaxies at low and high redshift. It then turns to far-field cosmological topics, exploring properties of supernovae to z~1, strong and weak lensing, the large-scale distribution of galaxies and baryon oscillations, and how these different probes may be combined to constrain cosmological models and the physics of dark energy

Photometric Study Of Two Near-Earth Asteroids In The Sloan Digital Sky Survey Moving Objects Catalog

Classifying asteroids by color and spectral features is important for understanding their compositions, linkages to meteorite types, and formation and evolution of the Solar System in general. Large data collection efforts such as the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) have allowed for more comprehensive studies of the asteroid population. However, the repeatability and therefore reliability of such observations comes into question, especially as Szabo et al. (2004) and Carvano et al. (2010) reported sizable fractions of asteroids observed by SDSS exhibiting taxonomic variability. This research studied two near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) with just one observation each by SDSS: 2059 Baboquivari and 96744 (1999 OW3). Observations using the 1 m Yale/SMARTS telescope at Cerro-Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) were conducted in order to investigate whether g, r, i, and z spectrophotometry was consistent with spectrophotometry by SDSS. 2059 Baboquivari’s root mean square z filter and z – i reflectance values did not show a statistically significant difference compared to those values from its SDSS observation. However, individual measurements of z filter and z – i reflectance values compared to those values from its SDSS observation varied up to the 3.8σ level, demonstrating a large dispersion in these z filter and z – i reflectance values. Using photometric spectra from these observations, 2059 Baboquivari could be classified as an S-/Q-type, C-complex, or P-/D-type asteroid. A rotational period could not be determined from the observations. However, 2059 Baboquivari’s light curve appeared flat across observation runs, suggesting z filter variability is not due to rotational effects. Comparing the brightness of bright stars not used in the calibration process during observations eliminated changing sky conditions as a cause of 2059 Baboquivari’s photometric variability. A test of the Kron algorithm used for photometry eliminated the algorithm’s significant contribution to observed z filter variability, which gives evidence that this variability is not due to the data analysis process. 2059 Baboquivari did not exhibit significant phase reddening of its i – g slope between phase angles of ~22 and ~45 – 50 degrees, but z – i 1 μm band depth generally decreased between phase angles of ~22 to ~45 – 50 degrees. It was found that 96744 (1999 OW3) likely has a rotational period of ~2 hours or a multiple of ~2 hours. Observations in g, r, i, and z filters showed a repeating correlation between i – g spectral slope, z – i band depth, and C (clear) filter magnitude variation. This suggests that the composition of 96744 may vary across its surface. There were no clear relationships between spectral slope, band depth, and phase angle. However, i – g values showed a steeper visible spectral slope and z – i values showed a shallower 1 μm band depth for 8 Jan 2020 observations compared to those for 10 and 11 Jan 2020 observations. In conclusion, although significant advances in the characterization of 2059 Baboquivari and 96744 (1999 OW3) were achieved, further study is needed to more precisely determine the properties of these two near-Earth asteroids

The Zwicky Transient Facility: Data Processing, Products, and Archive

The Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) is a new robotic time-domain survey currently in progress using the Palomar 48-inch Schmidt Telescope. ZTF uses a 47 square degree field with a 600 megapixel camera to scan the entire northern visible sky at rates of ~3760 square degrees/hour to median depths of g ~ 20.8 and r ~ 20.6 mag (AB, 5sigma in 30 sec). We describe the Science Data System that is housed at IPAC, Caltech. This comprises the data-processing pipelines, alert production system, data archive, and user interfaces for accessing and analyzing the products. The realtime pipeline employs a novel image-differencing algorithm, optimized for the detection of point source transient events. These events are vetted for reliability using a machine-learned classifier and combined with contextual information to generate data-rich alert packets. The packets become available for distribution typically within 13 minutes (95th percentile) of observation. Detected events are also linked to generate candidate moving-object tracks using a novel algorithm. Objects that move fast enough to streak in the individual exposures are also extracted and vetted. The reconstructed astrometric accuracy per science image with respect to Gaia is typically 45 to 85 milliarcsec. This is the RMS per axis on the sky for sources extracted with photometric S/N >= 10. The derived photometric precision (repeatability) at bright unsaturated fluxes varies between 8 and 25 millimag. Photometric calibration accuracy with respect to Pan-STARRS1 is generally better than 2%. The products support a broad range of scientific applications: fast and young supernovae, rare flux transients, variable stars, eclipsing binaries, variability from active galactic nuclei, counterparts to gravitational wave sources, a more complete census of Type Ia supernovae, and Solar System objects.Comment: 30 pages, 16 figures, Published in PASP Focus Issue on the Zwicky Transient Facility (doi: 10.1088/1538-3873/aae8ac

Deep learning for asteroid detection in large astronomical surveys : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Science at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand

The MOA-II telescope has been operating at the Mt John Observatory since 2004 as part of a Japan/NZ collaboration looking for microlensing events. The telescope has a total field of view of 1.6 x 1.3 degrees and surveys the Galactic Bulge several times each night. This makes it particularly good for observing short duration events. While it has been successful in discovering exoplanets, the full scientific potential of the data has not yet been realised. In particular, numerous known asteroids are hidden amongst the MOA data. These can be clearly seen upon visual inspection of selected images. There are also potentially many undiscovered asteroids captured by the telescope. As yet, no tool exists to effectively mine archival data from large astronomical surveys, such as MOA, for asteroids. The appeal of deep learning is in its ability to learn useful representations from data without significant hand-engineering, making it an excellent tool for asteroid detection. Supervised learning requires labelled datasets, which are also unavailable. The goal of this research is to develop datasets suitable for supervised learning and to apply several CNN-based techniques to identify asteroids in the MOA-II data. Asteroid tracklets can be clearly seen by combining all the observations on a given night and these tracklets form the basis of the dataset. Known asteroids were identified within the composite images, forming the seed dataset for supervised learning. These images were used to train several CNNs to classify images as either containing asteroids or not. The top five networks were then configured as an ensemble that achieved a recall of 97.67%. Next, the YOLO object detector was trained to localise asteroid tracklets, achieving a mean average precision (mAP) of 90.97%. These trained networks will be applied to 16 years of MOA archival data to find both known and unknown asteroids that have been observed by the telescope over the years. The methodologies developed can also be used by other surveys for asteroid recovery and discovery