The International Astronomical Search Collaboration (IASC)—Citizen Scientist System for Asteroid Discovery

Article


Miller, Patrick, Weryk, Robert, Wainscoat, Richard, Perret, Jules, Hartung, Steve, Vorobjov, Tomas, Buzzi, Luca, Raab, Herbert, Chastel, Serge, Fairlamb, John, Huber, Mark, Ramanjooloo, Yudish, Chambers, Kenneth, de Boer, Thomas, Gao, Hua, Lin, Roger Chien-Cheng, Magnier, Eugene and Pennypacker, Carlton. 2024. "The International Astronomical Search Collaboration (IASC)—Citizen Scientist System for Asteroid Discovery." Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. 136 (2). https://doi.org/10.1088/1538-3873/ad11a0
Article Title

The International Astronomical Search Collaboration (IASC)—Citizen Scientist System for Asteroid Discovery

ERA Journal ID1082
Article CategoryArticle
AuthorsMiller, Patrick, Weryk, Robert, Wainscoat, Richard, Perret, Jules, Hartung, Steve, Vorobjov, Tomas, Buzzi, Luca, Raab, Herbert, Chastel, Serge, Fairlamb, John, Huber, Mark, Ramanjooloo, Yudish, Chambers, Kenneth, de Boer, Thomas, Gao, Hua, Lin, Roger Chien-Cheng, Magnier, Eugene and Pennypacker, Carlton
Journal TitlePublications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific
Journal Citation136 (2)
Article Number024502
Number of Pages8
Year2024
PublisherIOP Publishing
Place of PublicationUnited States
ISSN0004-6280
1538-3873
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1088/1538-3873/ad11a0
Web Address (URL)https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1538-3873/ad11a0
AbstractWe describe a citizen science asteroid detection system developed by the International Astronomical Search Collaboration (IASC) and the Institute for Astronomy at the University of Hawaii, utilizing data from the Pan-STARRS telescopes. The goals of this project are to (i) educate and engage citizen scientists (mostly high school students) in science and astronomy, (ii) search for new asteroids to extend the limiting magnitudes of existing asteroid surveys, and (iii) find missed Near-Earth Objects (NEOs—objects with perihelia q < 1.3 au) to support planetary defense efforts. Over the past 15 yr, 50,000 citizen scientists from 96 countries around the world have detected ∼12,000 main-belt asteroids and ∼5 NEOs. Citizen scientists use the software Astrometrica during scheduled campaigns to search for and measure asteroid astrometry and photometry, and submit the data to IASC for vetting. Candidate detections not already submitted by Pan-STARRS are then submitted to the Minor Planet Center, and are typically ∼0.30 ± 0.07 mag fainter.
KeywordsNear-Earth objects ; Main belt asteroids; Asteroids
Contains Sensitive ContentDoes not contain sensitive content
ANZSRC Field of Research 20205101. Astronomical sciences
Byline AffiliationsHardin-Simmons University, United States
University of Southern Queensland
University of Western Ontario, Canada
University of Hawaii, United States
Paris-Saclay University, France
Maxar Technologies, United States
G.V. Schiaparelli Astronomical Observatory, Italy
Johannes Kepler Observatory, Austria
University of California Berkeley, United States
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