The National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded a $441,114 Project Grant under the Mathematical and Physical Sciences (CFDA 47.049) program to Northern Arizona University (NAU) to support the "Active Asteroids Citizen Science Project". This 3-year project aims to further understanding of active asteroids and the distribution of volatiles, such as water, in the solar system. The project will leverage over 8,500 citizen science volunteers to classify nearly 500,000 archival images of asteroids and other small solar system bodies, enabling the discovery of new active asteroids. The team will then conduct in-depth archival searches and follow-up observations to characterize the newly discovered active asteroids. The classification data and discoveries from this citizen science project will also provide a training dataset to develop optimized detection algorithms for the upcoming Vera C. Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time.
Generated 3/4/25, 8:22 AM