Asteroids@home: Difference between revisions
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[https://asteroidsathome.net/boinc/ '''''Asteroids@home'''''] is a '''''[[wikipedia:Volunteer_computing|volunteer distributed computing]]''''' project that needs your help to increase our asteroid knowledge. | [https://asteroidsathome.net/boinc/ '''''Asteroids@home'''''] is a '''''[[wikipedia:Volunteer_computing|volunteer distributed computing]]''''' project that needs your help to increase our asteroid knowledge. | ||
== Why asteroids? == | == Why asteroids? == | ||
Since [[wikipedia:Asteroid|'''''asteroids''''']] are remnants from the early solar system, studying them can provide insights into our solar system. They contain information about the building blocks of planets and can help us understand how planets like Earth formed and evolved. Asteroids are diverse and offer a wide range of scientific and possibly economic opportunities. By studying their compositions, surface properties, and geology, scientists can learn more about the history and evolution of these small celestial bodies, as well as the broader processes that have shaped our solar system. Additionally, some asteroids have the potential to impact Earth, and understanding their orbits, compositions, and sizes is crucial for developing strategies to mitigate potential threats. By studying asteroids, scientists can identify and assess these impact hazards, and develop methods to deflect or mitigate threats. | Since [[wikipedia:Asteroid|'''''asteroids''''']] are remnants from the early solar system, studying them can provide insights into our solar system. They contain information about the building blocks of planets and can help us understand how planets like Earth formed and evolved. Asteroids are diverse and offer a wide range of scientific and possibly economic opportunities. By studying their compositions, surface properties, and geology, scientists can learn more about the history and evolution of these small celestial bodies, as well as the broader processes that have shaped our solar system. Additionally, some asteroids have the potential to impact Earth, and understanding their orbits, compositions, and sizes is crucial for developing strategies to mitigate potential threats. By studying asteroids, scientists can identify and assess these impact hazards, and develop methods to deflect or mitigate threats. | ||
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== History == | == History == | ||
Asteroids@home was first presented to the scientific community at the Division for Planetary Sciences (DPS) meeting in 2012, when project director Josef Ďurech and collaborators described the new volunteer computing framework being built to tackle the computationally intensive problem of asteroid shape reconstruction from sparse photometry.<ref name="durech2012">[https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2012DPS....4411103D Durech et al. ''Asteroids@Home''. Presented at DPS 2012.]</ref> The project officially launched in '''February 2013'''<ref name="wikidata">[https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q91920494 Asteroids@home — Wikidata entry, citing project start time as February 2013.]</ref> and has been active ever since.[[File:Charles University in Prague logo.jpg|left|200x200px|<small>Charles University in Prague, home institution of the Asteroids@home project.</small>|frameless]]The project was created at the '''[[wikipedia:Astronomical_Institute_of_Charles_University|Astronomical Institute]]''', '''[[wikipedia:Charles_University|Charles University in Prague]]''', in cooperation with Radim Vančo from CzechNationalTeam. It is directed by Josef Ďurech, an astronomer at Charles University specialising in asteroid photometry and shape modelling, with over 200 published papers and thousands of citations.<ref name="prabook">[https://prabook.com/web/josef.durech/290764 Josef Ďurech — World Biographical Encyclopedia.]</ref> Georgi Vidinski serves as the project's software developer. | |||
Asteroids@home was first presented to the scientific community at the Division for Planetary Sciences (DPS) meeting in 2012, when project director Josef Ďurech and collaborators described the new volunteer computing framework being built to tackle the computationally intensive problem of asteroid shape reconstruction from sparse photometry.<ref name="durech2012">[https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2012DPS....4411103D Durech et al. ''Asteroids@Home''. Presented at DPS 2012.]</ref> The project officially launched in '''February 2013'''<ref name="wikidata">[https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q91920494 Asteroids@home — Wikidata entry, citing project start time as February 2013.]</ref> and has been active ever since. | |||
The project was created at the '''[[wikipedia:Astronomical_Institute_of_Charles_University|Astronomical Institute]]''', '''[[wikipedia:Charles_University|Charles University in Prague]]''', in cooperation with Radim Vančo from CzechNationalTeam. It is directed by Josef Ďurech, an astronomer at Charles University specialising in asteroid photometry and shape modelling, with over 200 published papers and thousands of citations.<ref name="prabook">[https://prabook.com/web/josef.durech/290764 Josef Ďurech — World Biographical Encyclopedia.]</ref> Georgi Vidinski serves as the project's software developer. | |||
As of recent statistics, Asteroids@home has attracted over '''163,000 registered users''', of whom roughly 11,500 have earned computing credit.<ref name="gridcoin">[https://www.gridcoinstats.eu/project/asteroids@home Asteroids@home project statistics — Gridcoinstats.]</ref> | As of recent statistics, Asteroids@home has attracted over '''163,000 registered users''', of whom roughly 11,500 have earned computing credit.<ref name="gridcoin">[https://www.gridcoinstats.eu/project/asteroids@home Asteroids@home project statistics — Gridcoinstats.]</ref> | ||
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== Methods == | == Methods == | ||
[[File:951 Gaspra.jpg|thumb|240x240px|<small>Asteroid 951 Gaspra, imaged by the Galileo spacecraft in 1991 — one of the first asteroids to be photographed close-up. Most asteroids must be studied remotely using photometry.</small>]]With a huge amount of photometric data coming from big all-sky surveys as well as from backyard astronomers, asteroid '''''[[wikipedia:Light_curve|Light curve inversion]]''''' modeling becomes viable — though it generally has been far too compute intensive for use at scale. | |||
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With a huge amount of photometric data coming from big all-sky surveys as well as from backyard astronomers, asteroid '''''[[wikipedia:Light_curve|Light curve inversion]]''''' modeling becomes viable — though it generally has been far too compute intensive for use at scale. | |||
Light curve inversion is a mathematical technique used to model the surfaces of rotating objects from their brightness variations. However, data from the surveys which serve as input data are often ''sparse in time'', which means that the rotation period — the basic physical parameter — cannot be estimated from the data easily. Contrary to classical light curves where the period is "visible" in the data, a wide interval of all possible periods has to be scanned densely when analyzing sparse data. | Light curve inversion is a mathematical technique used to model the surfaces of rotating objects from their brightness variations. However, data from the surveys which serve as input data are often ''sparse in time'', which means that the rotation period — the basic physical parameter — cannot be estimated from the data easily. Contrary to classical light curves where the period is "visible" in the data, a wide interval of all possible periods has to be scanned densely when analyzing sparse data. | ||
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== Data sources == | == Data sources == | ||
[[File: | [[File:201 Penelope light curve.png|alt=201 Penelope light curve|thumb|240x240px|<small>Light curve of asteroid 201 Penelope. Shows just over one full rotation, which lasts 3.7474 hours.</small>]]Asteroids@home has drawn on multiple large astronomical data sources over its lifetime: | ||
Asteroids@home has drawn on multiple large astronomical data sources over its lifetime: | |||
* '''Lowell Photometric Database''' — The primary early data source, containing re-calibrated photometry reported to the Minor Planet Center for roughly 330,000 asteroids, with hundreds of brightness measurements per object spanning 1998–2011.<ref name="arxiv2015" /> In the 2016 publication based on this data, the team processed data for the first ~100,000 numbered asteroids and derived new shape models. | * '''Lowell Photometric Database''' — The primary early data source, containing re-calibrated photometry reported to the Minor Planet Center for roughly 330,000 asteroids, with hundreds of brightness measurements per object spanning 1998–2011.<ref name="arxiv2015" /> In the 2016 publication based on this data, the team processed data for the first ~100,000 numbered asteroids and derived new shape models. | ||
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== Technical details == | == Technical details == | ||
=== Platform === | === Platform === | ||
[[File:BOINC logo.png|left|150x150px|<small>The BOINC platform, which underpins Asteroids@home's distributed computing infrastructure.</small>|frameless]][[File:Pan-STARRS, crop of Haleakala Observatory 2017.jpg|thumb|240x240px|<small>The Pan-STARRS observatory, one of several sky surveys providing photometric data to Asteroids@home.</small>]]Asteroids@home runs on the '''''[[wikipedia:Berkeley_Open_Infrastructure_for_Network_Computing|Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing (BOINC)]]''''' framework — the same open-source middleware that powers projects such as SETI@home, Einstein@home, and Folding@home. The BOINC server distributes work units, collects and validates results, and provides community tools including forums, a credits system, and a "User of the Day" acknowledgment feature.<ref name="durech2015" /> | |||
Asteroids@home runs on the '''''[[wikipedia:Berkeley_Open_Infrastructure_for_Network_Computing|Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing (BOINC)]]''''' framework — the same open-source middleware that powers projects such as SETI@home, Einstein@home, and Folding@home. The BOINC server distributes work units, collects and validates results, and provides community tools including forums, a credits system, and a "User of the Day" acknowledgment feature.<ref name="durech2015" /> | |||
To participate, volunteers download and install the free BOINC client software, then attach to the project using the URL: <code>https://asteroidsathome.net/boinc/</code> | To participate, volunteers download and install the free BOINC client software, then attach to the project using the URL: <code>https://asteroidsathome.net/boinc/</code> | ||