New tool detects potential impact asteroids with help from the past

In an effort to protect Earth from asteroid impacts, a tool called ADAM uses existing archives of data to help researchers discover new near-Earth asteroids.

More than 100 previously unknown asteroids have been detected using a new tool that can comb through huge existing archives of data to search for potentially dangerous space rocks.

The discoveries were announced Tuesday by the B612 Foundation, a California-based nonprofit organization that focuses on tracking objects in the solar system and protecting the planet from near-Earth asteroids.

The organization said its newly developed platform, known as Asteroid Discovery Analysis and Mapping, or ADAM, is an open-source, cloud-based system that allows researchers to detect newfound asteroids without needing to gather additional astronomical observations or launch a novel asteroid-hunting telescope.

Instead, the system's algorithm links points of light that are consistent with the orbits of asteroids from reams of archival night sky images. If the cosmic object is confirmed as an asteroid, the algorithm can then calculate its orbit and begin tracking the space rock, according to the B612 Foundation.

As such, "any telescope with an archive can now become an asteroid search telescope," said Ed Lu, a former NASA astronaut and executive director of the B612 Foundation's Asteroid Institute.

https://www.nbcnews.com/science/space/asteroids-detected-new-tool-uses-existing-data-rcna31245

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