New Experts systems for asteroid detection

Paper number

IAC-06-D3.P.01

Author

Mr. Daniel Rojo, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Spain

Year

2006

Abstract

Detecting asteroids in solar system and predicting their orbit is a hard job for astronomers due to many challenges. Frequently are mistaken for artificial satellites, also it is hard to check if  one asteroid hasn´t been catalogued yet, and finally it is also difficult to trace its orbit because many times we get a short trace of its movement. So this task was reserved for professional astronomers using expensive installations. But amateur astronomers using new devices with many improvements and new features which are more precise,  are now able to use their equipments for asteroid detection, resulting in far fewer false detections of asteroids than before. So, now and in the future these astronomers could represent an important source of information about asteroids search. 

I propose a system to collect this information provided by amateur astronomers with proper equipment and using a distributed computer network, similar to SETI, to process that huge data amount using expert systems technics to find out new undiscovered asteroids and get their orbits around the Solar System.
For this purpose, it is essential to provide some kind of protocols to normalize the information provided by amateur astronomers (images, coordinates, time...), in order to be able to process correctly this data. 
Another important issue of the system is to coordinate astronomers to get information about a concrete region of space, and coordinate efforts, considering the localization of astronomers on Earth and the local hour. This could reach in the foundation of work groups of astronomers specialized in this astronomy area.
Another aim of this project is the creation of a worldwide community of asteroid searchers to share knowledge, award the best amateur astronomers, organize meetings of members, courses for beginers...

Abstract document

IAC-06-D3.P.01.pdf

Manuscript document

IAC-06-D3.P.01.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).

To get the manuscript, please contact IAF Secretariat.