Related papers: An automated probabilistic asteroid prediscovery p…
We present a comprehensive analysis of the digest2 parameters for candidates of the Near-Earth Object Confirmation Page (NEOCP) that were reported between 2019 and 2024. Our study proposes methods for significantly reducing the inclusion of…
The primary objective of this study was to utilize the newest Gaia FPR catalogue containing ultra-precise asteroid astrometry spanning over 66 months to detect the Yarkovsky effect, a non-gravitational acceleration that affects the orbits…
We report 491 new near-infrared spectroscopic measurements of 420 near-Earth objects (NEOs) collected on the NASA InfraRed Telescope Facility (IRTF) as part of the MIT-Hawaii NEO Spectroscopic Survey (MITHNEOS). These measurements were…
The metal content of asteroids is of great interest, not only for theories of their origins and the evolution of the solar system but, in the case of near-Earth objects (NEOs), also for impact mitigation planning and endeavors in the field…
We present a high-throughput, end-to-end pipeline for organic crystal structure prediction (CSP) -- the problem of identifying the stable crystal structures that will form from a given molecule based only on its molecular composition. Our…
The asteroidal main belt is crossed by a web of mean-motion and secular resonances, that occur when there is a commensurability between fundamental frequencies of the asteroids and planets. Traditionally, these objects were identified by…
Given a set of astrometric observations of the same object, the problem of orbit determination is to compute the orbit and to assess its uncertainty and reliability. For the next generation surveys, with much larger number density of…
We are a group of over two dozen astronomers, computer scientists, data scientists and digital Big Data research platform experts at 11 universities and research institutes in South Africa and Europe. We study Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) for…
We propose to design and build an algorithm that will use a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) and observations from the Unistellar network to reliably detect asteroid occultations. The Unistellar Network, made of more than 10,000 digital…
A simulation of de-biased population of NEAs is presented. The numerical integration of modeled orbits reveals geometrical conditions of close approaching NEAs to the Earth. The population with the absolute magnitude up to H=28 is simulated…
Terrestrial planets in the habitable zone around nearby stars are of great interest and provide a good sample for further characteristics of their habitability. In this paper, we collect a nearby star catalog within 20 pc according to the…
The classification of the minor bodies of the Solar System based on observables has been continuously developed and iterated over the past 40 years. While prior iterations followed either the availability of large observational campaigns or…
Asteroids with low orbital perihelion distances experience extreme heating from the Sun that can modify their surfaces and trigger non-typical activity mechanisms. These objects are generally difficult to observe from ground-based…
One of the primary mission goals of the Kepler space telescope was to detect Earth-like terrestrial planets in the habitable zone around Sun-like stars. These planets are at the detection limit, where the Kepler detection and vetting…
The Gaia Data Release 2 provides precise astrometry for nearly 1.5 billion sources across the entire sky, including several thousand asteroids. In this work, we provide evidence that reasonably large asteroids (diameter $>$ 20 km) have high…
The Yarkovsky effect is a weak non-gravitational force leading to a small variation of the semi-major axis of an asteroid. Using radar measurements and astrometric observations, it is possible to measure a drift in semi-major axis through…
Kete is an open-source software package for quickly and accurately predicting the positions and magnitudes of asteroids and comets in large-scale, all-sky surveys. It can predict observable objects for any ground or space-based telescope.…
Recent estimates of the characteristics of Planet Nine have suggested that it could be closer than originally assumed. Such a Planet Nine would also be brighter than originally assumed, suggesting the possibility that it has already been…
Asteroids with companions constitute an excellent sample for studying the collisional and dynamical evolution of minor planets. The currently known binary population were discovered by different complementary techniques that produce, for…
We describe digital tracking, a method for asteroid searches that greatly increases the sensitivity of a telescope to faint unknown asteroids. It has been previously used to detect faint Kuiper Belt objects using the Hubble Space Telescope…