Collaborative Research: Rubin Rocks: Enabling near-Earth asteroid science with LSST

维拉鲁宾天文台遗留的空间和时间调查预计将探测到超过10万个近地天体。这组数据将首次为测试目前靠近太阳区域的近地小行星数量模型提供机会。研究人员将把数据科学与太阳系动力学结合起来，更好地描述近地空间小行星的轨道分布和演化、热处理和物理特性。该项目还将有助于发现目前难以追踪的潜在危险小行星所在的位置。相应的数据库和查询表将通过一个记录良好的网络应用程序编程接口提供给科学界。该计划将引入一个新的指导学习项目，旨在加强来自代表性不足背景的学生的早期科学参与。通过将数据科学与太阳系动力学相结合，该项目将通过仔细观察近地天体的轨道动力学，并利用维拉鲁宾天文台空间和时间遗产调查的第一批结果，提高对近地天体种群的理解。该项目将以比以前更高的分辨率创建驻留时间概率分布。通过结合提取的粒子轨道历史、未来轨迹和给定轨道元素的最终状态信息，研究人员将产生访问给定轨道元素单元的所有粒子的平均和中位数停留时间尺度以及源区域和最终状态概率。该团队将研究近地小行星在地球和金星内部轨道上的动力学行为以及它们所处的环境。更好地了解从太阳方向接近地球的撞击物的亚群，可以帮助他们的发现和后续行动，增加对这些经常是晚发现的警告时间。在这个项目的框架内创造的关于近地天体轨道分布及其长期演化的丰富信息将向公众开放，并使太阳系科学的许多领域受益。该研究奖的部分资金来自查尔斯·西蒙尼对美国国家科学基金会天文部门的慷慨捐赠。该项目包括对Vera C. Rubin天文台的时空遗产调查的重大贡献。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The Vera Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time is expected to detect more than one hundred thousand near-Earth objects. This data set will present the first opportunity to test current population models of near-Earth asteroids in the region close to the Sun. The investigators will combine data science with solar system dynamics to better characterize the distribution and evolution of orbits, thermal processing and physical properties of asteroids in near-Earth space. The project will also help uncover where potentially hazardous asteroids reside that are currently difficult to track. Corresponding databases and look-up tables accessible through a well-documented web application programming interface will be made available to the science community. The program will introduce a new guided learning project aimed at enhancing early science engagement in students from under-represented backgrounds.Through combining data science with solar system dynamics this project will improve the understanding of the near-Earth object population by taking a closer look at their orbital dynamics and leveraging first results of the Vera Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time. The project will create a residence time probability distribution at higher resolution than has been done before. By combining the extracted information on particle orbital histories, future trajectories, and end-states for given orbital elements, the investigators will produce mean and median residence timescales as well as source region and end-state probabilities for all particles that visit a given orbital element cell. The team will study the dynamical behavior of near-Earth asteroids on orbits interior to that of Earth and Venus and the environment in which they reside. Better understanding the sub-population of impactors approaching the Earth from the sunward direction can aid in their discovery and follow-up, increasing warning times for these often late discoveries. The wealth of information on the near-Earth object orbital distribution and their long-term evolution created in the framework of this project will be publicly accessible and benefit many areas of solar system science.This research award is partially funded by a generous gift from Charles Simonyi to the NSF Astronomy division. The project includes significant contributions to Vera C. Rubin Observatory’s Legacy Survey of Space and Time.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.