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

维拉鲁宾天文台的空间和时间遗产调查预计将探测到超过10万个近地天体。这一数据集将提供第一次机会来测试目前在太阳附近地区的近地小行星种群模型。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、热加工和物理性质。该项目还将帮助发现目前难以追踪的潜在危险小行星所在的位置。将向科学界提供可通过文件齐全的网络应用程序编程接口访问的相应数据库和查询表。该计划将推出一个新的指导性学习项目，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，该项目将通过更仔细地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成果来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停留时间概率分布。通过结合提取的关于给定轨道元素的粒子轨道历史、未来轨迹和终态的信息，调查人员将得出访问给定轨道元素单元的所有粒子的平均和中值驻留时间尺度以及源区和终态概率。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。更好地了解从向阳方向接近地球的撞击子亚群有助于他们的发现和后续行动，增加这些往往是较晚发现的预警时间。在该项目框架下创建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·西蒙尼向美国国家科学基金会天文学部门的慷慨捐赠。该项目包括对Vera C.Rubin天文台的遗产空间和时间调查的重大贡献。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势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.