Asteroids@home: Difference between revisions

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== 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. ~~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 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.

== Goal ==

Asteroids@home is establishing the physical properties of asteroids in our solar system, publishing the results in peer-reviewed journals and making them publicly available in the '''''[https://astro.troja.mff.cuni.cz/projects/damit/asteroids/browse DAMIT]''''' database. Database of Asteroid Models from Inversion Techniques (DAMIT) ~~is providing~~ the astronomical community access to reliable and up-to-date physical models of asteroids - i.e., their shapes, rotation periods, and spin axis directions.

Asteroids@home is establishing the physical properties of asteroids in our solar system, publishing the results in peer-reviewed journals and making them publicly available in the '''''[https://astro.troja.mff.cuni.cz/projects/damit/asteroids/browse DAMIT]''''' database.

The "Database of Asteroid Models from Inversion Techniques" (DAMIT) provides the astronomical community access to reliable and up-to-date physical models of asteroids - i.e., their shapes, rotation periods, and spin axis directions.

There are almost half a million known asteroids - we know their orbit in the solar system (by measuring their position at different times) and their approximate size (by measuring their brightness and knowing their distance). To learn more about their physical properties, other observing techniques must be used. One of them is '''''[[wikipedia:Photometry_(astronomy)|photometry]]''''' - the measure of brightness variations caused by rotation. By this technique, rotation periods were derived for several thousands of asteroids.

== Methods ==

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. Light curve inversion is a mathematical technique used to model the surfaces of rotating objects from their brightness variations. However, data from surveys 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. This ~~fact~~ enormously enlarges the computational time ~~and~~ the only practical way to efficiently handle photometry of hundreds of thousands of asteroids is to use distributed computing~~. Moreover, the problem is ideal for parallelization - the period interval can be divided into smaller parts that are searched separately and then the results are joined together~~.[https://asteroidsathome.net/]

[[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>]]

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. This enormously enlarges the computational time, with the result that the only practical way to efficiently handle photometry of hundreds of thousands of asteroids is to use distributed computing.[https://asteroidsathome.net/]

The Asteroids@home applications that are distributed by '''''[[wikipedia:Berkeley_Open_Infrastructure_for_Network_Computing|Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing (BOINC)]],''''' employ photometric measurements of asteroids from observed data. The results are mathematical asteroid models with the direction of the spin axis and the rotation period. This is important data to document for asteroids in our solar system.

== Project ~~Team~~ / Sponsors ==

== Project team / Sponsors ==

Asteroids@home is based at [https://astro.troja.mff.cuni.cz/index_en.html '''''Astronomical Institute'''''], [https://www.cuni.cz/UKENG-1.html '''''Charles University in Prague'''''] in cooperation with Radim Vančo from CzechNationalTeam. The project is directed by Josef Durech.

@@ Line 4: / Line 4: @@
 == 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. 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 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.
 == Goal ==
-Asteroids@home is establishing the physical properties of asteroids in our solar system, publishing the results in peer-reviewed journals and making them publicly available in the '''''[https://astro.troja.mff.cuni.cz/projects/damit/asteroids/browse DAMIT]''''' database. Database of Asteroid Models from Inversion Techniques (DAMIT) is providing the astronomical community access to reliable and up-to-date physical models of asteroids - i.e., their shapes, rotation periods, and spin axis directions.
+Asteroids@home is establishing the physical properties of asteroids in our solar system, publishing the results in peer-reviewed journals and making them publicly available in the '''''[https://astro.troja.mff.cuni.cz/projects/damit/asteroids/browse DAMIT]''''' database.
+The "Database of Asteroid Models from Inversion Techniques" (DAMIT) provides the astronomical community access to reliable and up-to-date physical models of asteroids - i.e., their shapes, rotation periods, and spin axis directions.
 There are almost half a million known asteroids - we know their orbit in the solar system (by measuring their position at different times) and their approximate size (by measuring their brightness and knowing their distance). To learn more about their physical properties, other observing techniques must be used. One of them is '''''[[wikipedia:Photometry_(astronomy)|photometry]]''''' - the measure of brightness variations caused by rotation. By this technique, rotation periods were derived for several thousands of asteroids.
 == Methods ==
-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. Light curve inversion is a mathematical technique used to model the surfaces of rotating objects from their brightness variations. However, data from surveys 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. This fact enormously enlarges the computational time and the only practical way to efficiently handle photometry of hundreds of thousands of asteroids is to use distributed computing. Moreover, the problem is ideal for parallelization - the period interval can be divided into smaller parts that are searched separately and then the results are joined together.[https://asteroidsathome.net/]
+[[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>]]
+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. This enormously enlarges the computational time, with the result that the only practical way to efficiently handle photometry of hundreds of thousands of asteroids is to use distributed computing.[https://asteroidsathome.net/]
 The Asteroids@home applications that are distributed by '''''[[wikipedia:Berkeley_Open_Infrastructure_for_Network_Computing|Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing (BOINC)]],''''' employ photometric measurements of asteroids from observed data. The results are mathematical asteroid models with the direction of the spin axis and the rotation period. This is important data to document for asteroids in our solar system.
-== Project Team / Sponsors ==
+== Project team / Sponsors ==
 Asteroids@home is based at [https://astro.troja.mff.cuni.cz/index_en.html '''''Astronomical Institute'''''], [https://www.cuni.cz/UKENG-1.html '''''Charles University in Prague'''''] in cooperation with Radim Vančo from CzechNationalTeam. The project is directed by Josef Durech.