Algorithm spots 104 asteroids in huge piles of data

Researchers at The Asteroid Institute have developed a way to locate previously unknown asteroids in astronomical data, and all it took was a massive amount of cloud computing power to do it. Traditionally, asteroid spotters would have to build so-called tracklets of multiple night sky images taken in short succession that …

[Tom 7]

ADAM::THOR

I wonder how long before we get space name space conflicts!

I hope they extend it to the point I can point my 16 incher at the sky and not get half blinded by starlinks flashing by. Though I'm guessing I cant afford the go-pro update!

[NoneSuch]

Re: ADAM::THOR

Observatory on the Dark Side of the Moon. Problem solved.

[zuckzuckgo]

Re: ADAM::THOR

The moon rotates once every 29.5 days so there is no permanent dark side. Do you mean the far side that always faces away from the earth? That will avoid earth orbiting junk but it will be sunny for roughly half of each month.

[Spherical Cow]

Re: ADAM::THOR

To be fair, Earth-based observatories are also in daylight for roughly half of each month (on average).

[Flak]

New eyes, old data

Absolutely fascinating and well done to the team.

I think many more discoveries will be made by looking at historic data.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: New eyes, old data

The day after the apocalypse you finally manage to log on to your email account only to discover the warning email in your spam folder dated that very morning...

[Dizzy Dwarf]

Re: New eyes, old data

Natural language translation.

Someone at google realised there was a hundred years worth of Canada's parliament's hansards - in both English and French. That's a lot of high quality old data to feed your ML.

[Mike 137]

"Algorithm spots 104 asteroids in huge piles of data"

I would have thought that such a large number of rocks might have been found without the use of AI - surely they'd make the the piles of data uneven and lumpy?

[Spherical Cow]

Re: "Algorithm spots 104 asteroids in huge piles of data"

We know that the piles of data were huge, but the rocks could have been tiny.

[Snowy]

The mighty Algorithm.

It is good when all it took was a massive amount of cloud computing power and they did not feel the need to say they applied "AI"

[yetanotheraoc]

Re: The mighty Algorithm.

When their name is Asteroid Institute, they would have to disambiguate AI every time. Which pretty much negates the intellectual laziness that is the whole raison d'etre for calling it AI. They probably have a style guide with 50 alternatives for AI, depending on context. And every time there is a newbie writing the press release, they roll up the style guide and clunk the newbie in the head -- how many times do we have to tell you, you can't write "AI" for that....

[ian 22]

Plan(et) 9 from outer space?

There might be a large-ish planet lurking out beyond Pluto. Perhaps THOR can locate it.

[aki009]

Privately Funded Effort

This is all thanks to the B612 Foundation. B612 is a privately funded effort to find earth killer asteroids before they find us. Please chip in.

https://b612foundation.org/