A recently published study reveals a fascinating discovery: more than 1,000 previously unknown asteroids identified in the solar system through analysis of the Hubble Space Telescope archives. This discovery was made possible through an innovative combination of artificial intelligence (AI) and contributions from citizen scientists.
Telltale streaks
The solar system is full of asteroids, with more than 1.3 million space rocks already discovered. Most of them are in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, but there are probably hundreds of thousands, if not millions, yet to be discovered. These remaining asteroids are often small size and extremely low brightnesswhich makes their detection extremely difficult.
However, when they cross the field of view of some telescopes during prolonged exposure, their movement creates streaks that ultimately make them visible. These streaks then allow astronomers to obtain valuable information on the size and orbits of these asteroids.
1031 new items confirmed
Furthermore, since 2019, more than 11,000 citizen scientists participated in the Hubble Asteroid Hunter (HAH) project. Their role was therefore to examine images from the Hubble telescope in search of these characteristic streaks left by moving asteroids. The results of this analysis were then used to train artificial intelligence (AI) which was used to sift through an immense amount of Hubble Telescope images taken over a 19-year period.
Using AI, the researchers were then able to identify a total of 1,701 asteroid candidates, including 1,031 had never been observed before.
Pablo García-Martín, a researcher at the Autonomous University of Madrid, Spain, and lead author of the study, expressed surprise at the large number of candidate objects discovered. These asteroids, although discovered randomly, appear to belong to a single population within the asteroid belt, making them particularly valuable to researchers.
The ability of AI to detect these space rocks, even those that were previously invisible to humans, demonstrates the remarkable potential of new technologies in the field of astronomy.
This discovery naturally paves the way for future research using similar methods to explore the vast archives of astronomical data available. It further highlights the essential role of collaboration between professional scientists and citizens in the exploration and understanding of our universe.
This work is important because determining the size distribution of asteroids is essential to understanding the collision history and evolution of the inner solar system.
Details of the study are published in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics.
