artist's impression of a ast XE9 & #; & # ro xEF; & # xE0 of passing; & # XE9 proximity;. of the Earth
asteroid Artist view from near Earth. – P.CARILL / ESA

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A new software from NASA, improved by the contributions of amateur scientists who participated in a competition for innovations organized by the US space agency, improves 15% detection of new asteroids, some of which could be a danger to Earth.

The hunt for asteroids

this software accessible to all astronomers and amateur scientists, allows analysis of images taken by ground-based telescopes in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, said Monday a statement from NASA. This enhanced application by those amateur contributions was developed by NASA in partnership with the firm Planetary Resources. It is a tool for analyzing potential asteroid images, which can be used by amateurs, said the space agency. The challenge of the hunt for asteroids “The Asteroid Hunter Data challenge” was launched by NASA in 2014 as part of the “South by Southwest” festival in Austin, Texas and was concluded in December.

The competition offered a total of $ 55,000 rewards for participants to improve algorithms for identifying asteroids in the images captured by telescopes. The winning solutions were combined to create software using the best algorithms that increase the sensitivity of detection to minimize false detections and it can be used effectively by all computer systems.



A success for NASA

“The Asteroid Hunter Data challenge was a success beyond what we expected. This helped to create software that makes a real difference in tracking asteroids and shows that more people can play an active role in protecting our planet, “said Jason Kessler, the head of the program to the Nasa. This software includes data from the Astrophysics Harvard-Smithsonian Centre in Cambridge (Massachusetts) and images provided by the air monitoring program Catalina, University of Arizona, who focus on the detection of asteroids and comets whose orbits intersect near the Earth.

The new software allows astronomers to use any computer to check independently and quickly the images and determine which of these objects heavenly deserve to be hounded. This leads to discover a greater number than before.

The asteroid detection site is free and open to the public