Advanced Algorithms Hold the Warning Signs for Asteroids

HelioLinc3D, one of the world’s most advanced algorithms, has successfully discovered its first “potentially hazardous” asteroid (PHA).

• The discovery of the 600-foot-long asteroid, 2022 SF289, confirms the AI’s potential to identify PHAs with fewer observations than current methods require.
• The successful discovery of 2022 SF289 marks a preview of the upcoming era of data-intensive astronomy.

One of the most advanced algorithms, HelioLinc3D, has identified its first “potentially hazardous” asteroid (PHA) during a test run with the ATLAS survey in Hawaii.

While not an immediate threat, the roughly 600-foot-long asteroid, designated 2022 SF289, is making planetary scientists nervous.

Developed to support the Vera C. Rubin Observatory‘s upcoming 10-year survey of the night sky, the AI pinpoints near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) with fewer observations than previous methods required.

PHAs are space rocks that come dangerously close to Earth’s vicinity, with trajectories that bring them within about 5 million miles of our planet’s orbit. These potential close calls warrant special attention from scientists and astronomers to ensure there is no risk of a catastrophic collision.

The discovery of 2022 SF289 using one of the advanced algorithms confirmed HelioLinc3D’s potential to identify NEA with fewer and more dispersed observations than current methods require. This breakthrough opens up new possibilities for detecting PHAs more effectively and efficiently, providing invaluable protection for our planet.

Ari Heinze, the principal developer of HelioLinc3D and a researcher at the University of Washington, expressed his optimism, stating, “by demonstrating the real-world effectiveness of the software that Rubin will use to look for thousands of yet-unknown potentially hazardous asteroids, the discovery of 2022 SF289 makes us all safer.”

The Rubin Observatory, primarily funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy, is set to become a pivotal player in the search for PHAs when it begins its observations in early 2025. Armed with an 8.4-meter mirror and a massive 3,200-megapixel camera, Rubin will rapidly scan the sky, visiting spots twice per night, unlike current telescopes that require four visits for accurate data. This is honestly very impressive.

To effectively detect previously unknown space objects, the new observing “cadence” of Rubin necessitated the development of one of the world’s advanced algorithms, the HelioLinc3D algorithm. The software team at the University of Washington’s DiRAC Institute, in collaboration with Matthew Holman from the Smithsonian and Harvard University, crafted HelioLinc3D to be capable of identifying asteroids in Rubin’s dataset.

For the test drive, the Rubin team utilized the data generously provided by the ATLAS survey. In this trial, HelioLinc3D successfully combined fragmented data from multiple nights and unveiled 2022 SF289, which had been previously missed by conventional algorithms due to its proximity to the Milky Way’s starfields.

Its discovery has been officially documented in the International Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Electronic Circular MPEC 2023-O26.

Mario Jurić, the director of the DiRAC Institute and leader of the HelioLinc3D team, highlighted the significance of this discovery, stating, “But more broadly, it’s a preview of the coming era of data-intensive astronomy. From HelioLinc3D to AI-assisted codes, the next decade of discovery will be a story of advancement in algorithms as much as in new, large telescopes.”

Currently, scientists are aware of approximately 2,350 PHAs, but they estimate that more than 3,000 remain undiscovered. The successful detection of 2022 SF289 offers a glimpse into the potential of the Rubin Observatory, which is expected to uncover objects like this on a nightly basis once fully operational.

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