The Hubble Space Telescope is still making astronomical discoveries after more than 30 years of operation. He also accidentally discovered more than 1,000 asteroids.
With the help of astronomers from the European Space Agency / ESA (European Space Agency) and several machine learning algorithms, new samples of more than a thousand asteroids were identified in the Hubble archive data.
The method used represents a new approach to finding objects in decades old data that can be applied to other data sets as well.
The research team was led by Pablo García-Martín, a researcher at the Department of Theoretical Physics at the Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM).
They include members from ESA, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Astronomy Institute of the Romanian Academy, University of Craiova, Université Côte d’Azur, and Bastion Technologies.
The paper explains their findings, “Hubble Asteroid Hunter III. Physical properties of newly discovered asteroids,” recently appeared in Astronomy & Astrophysics.
Ask any astronomer and they will tell you that material left over from the formation of the Solar System is ca. 4.5 billion years ago.
These objects come in a variety of shapes and sizes, from peddle-sized rocks to planetoids.
These objects are a challenge to observe because they are faint and constantly moving as they orbit the sun.
Thanks to its fast geocentric orbit, Hubble can capture flying asteroids thanks to the curved paths they leave in the Hubble exposure.
As Hubble orbits the Earth, its view changes as it sees asteroids following its orbit.
Asteroids are also known as “photobomb” images obtained by Hubble of distant cosmic objects such as UGC 12158.
By knowing Hubble’s position when it photographed the asteroid and measuring the curve of the line it left behind, scientists can determine the asteroid’s speed and estimate the shape of its orbit.
The ability to do this with large samples allows astronomers to test theories about the formation and evolution of the Main Asteroid Belt. As Martin said in a recent ESA Hubble press release:
2024-04-24 18:10:00
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