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

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.