Asteroid Zoo Talk

Credit and implications for our classifications

  • planetaryscience by planetaryscience

    As a first-off question and introduction for this project, I would like to say that I am a planetary scientist (even my name says that) and am particularly interested in minor bodies (like asteroids and comets) and have been hoping for them to launch a project like this for longer than anyone would care to know. Although I've just begun looking through it, I have a couple of questions off the bat:

    First, who exactly will be credited for the discoveries of the discovered asteroids (and possibly comets) resulting from this project? Typically the CSS is credited, but since this is a citizen science project will it be any different?

    Second, what exactly are you looking to achieve from this project? Obviously it's looking for asteroids, but are you looking to get better observations on known asteroids, finding new ones, or perhaps something else?

    Third, what time are these images coming from? Are they from last week, or last year? Do they have a consistent time interval, or are they just coincidental images of the same area?

    Similar to #3, what is the 'limiting magnitude' of the images taken? As in the dimmest magnitude before an object is overwhelmed by static?

    Thank you for taking the time to answer these questions. Much appreciated.

    -Planetaryscience

    Posted

  • amczesak by amczesak

    I would also be interested in all of these answers.

    One possible answer for #1 may be alluded to in the email sent to me for signing up, "Creating this account means that we can now credit you when your clicks help us publish papers and even contact you if you discover something new!"

    Posted

  • planetaryscience by planetaryscience

    however the CSS has a habit of crediting the survey, and not the people who look at the images. Usually organizations led by multiple people do this, as it would be considered cheating for the person who just happened to look at something first to be the discoverer.

    Posted

  • Emili_Sancha by Emili_Sancha

    +1
    more "science" in the images would be apreciated...type oif image, filter, limiting magnitud, time....

    Posted

  • interplanetary by interplanetary scientist in response to planetaryscience's comment.

    planetaryscience, amczesak - Thanks for joining the hunt!

    1. Who will be credited for the discoveries? - As a reference, the rules for naming minor planets are set by the IAU (International Astronomical Union) and can be found here: http://www.iau.org/public/themes/naming/#minorplanets As the operator of the survey, the CSS and its staff are technically the "discoverer", but the CSS team has agreed to "share their credit" with the individuals within the Asteroid Zoo community who are in the logs for discovering a verifiable object according to the IAU rules. The way that the images are served and re-verified, this may end up being a small group (more than 1, less than 10) of Asteroid Zoo citizen scientists per object. This is unprecedented, and we probably have a few other details to work through when these specific cases start to arise. Expect more discussion on this!

    2. What are the science goals of Asteroid Zoo? - I gave a presentation describing the goals of Asteroid Zoo to NASA's Asteroid Initiative Idea Synthesis Workshop on November 21, 2013. - Link to presentation file: https://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/asteroid2013/Asteroid_2013_November/Berkners/01 Thursday/PM/07 VIRTUAL_Lewicki_Planetary Resources Asteroid Zoo.pdf - Link to YouTube video of me presenting it: http://youtu.be/ZSIcnXVzowE?t=57s

    3. When are these images from? - The images of from a variety of time-periods over the life of the survey, which started in the late 1990's and is still active today. The 4 images you are presented in each case where taken in the same night for the explicit purpose of finding near Earth asteroids. We hope to work through the entire dataset, but keep the specifics of each set under analyses "anonymous" until it has been reviewed by the Asteroid Zoo community. You can review charts of the sky coverage for CATALINA and all the other surveys using this neat tool at the MPC: http://minorplanetcenter.net/iau/SkyCoverage.html

    4. What is the limiting magnitude of the images? - Probably about V mag 21.5. That number will depend on which night and other constraints. This is real data from the telescope so variability is to be expected.

    - Chris Lewicki and Matt Beasley, Planetary Resources

    Posted

  • planetaryscience by planetaryscience

    Thank you for taking the time to answer these questions, much appreciated.

    Posted

  • planetaryscience by planetaryscience

    Also, another couple of questions about the specifics of the project:

    How many image sets do you have currently available to classify on the project?

    About what percentage of the image sets have an undiscovered asteroid?

    About how many asteroids do you expect to find as a result of this project?

    Posted

  • planetaryscience by planetaryscience

    Well the main thing is that since this is crowdsourcing, and the images are randomized, it mostly depends on who gets the image sent to them first. If two people equally likely to find an asteroid are classifying objects, but one gets the asteroid's picture first, and the other much later, is it really fair to credit the first one and not any others?

    Posted

  • nilium by nilium

    It is right to accredit all those who have identified the object

    docet

    http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/mpec/K12/K12T05.html
    or
    http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/mpec/K12/K12FA9.html

    The work must be shared not exploitation...

    Posted

  • Dr.Asteroid by Dr.Asteroid scientist, admin

    This is an issue that is still in discussion. We're in an interesting place that involves setting precedent. When we have something to report, we will work out the details.

    Posted

  • nilium by nilium

    Thanks Dr. Asteroid

    we expect good news 😉

    Posted

  • bc2callhome by bc2callhome

    Can I name an asteroid after a friend say Jane Doe I know I cannot name it after myself Bill

    Posted

  • Dr.Asteroid by Dr.Asteroid scientist, admin

    So, there is a set of rules from the International Astronomical Union (IAU) and here's the full description.

    http://www.iau.org/public/themes/naming/#minorplanets

    It's not a very short document - and tends to be a bit wordy due to IAU's general habits.

    So, yes - a friend is fine - as long as it's one word (Janedoe) and no taken. If you have a friend named Ivar (for instance) that name is already taken.

    Posted

  • mboschmd by mboschmd

    Special case question: I found an asteroid, marked it and went to Talk. While on Talk I discovered a second asteroid that I had missed, but could not go back and add it, so the best I could do was state that a 2nd asteroid had been found, and it's exact location.

    The computer will not pick up the 2nd asteroid found because it was not marked. Will I get credited (per the rules, when finalized) for this unmarked asteroid, since I noted it's existence in Talk, and was the first to do so?

    Here's the image set: http://talk.asteroidzoo.org/#/subjects/AAZ0001r1w

    Thank you in advance for your response.

    Posted

  • Dr.Asteroid by Dr.Asteroid scientist, admin

    We did not anticipate this particular outcome.

    That said, I think there is a way to implement a check on that by back checking the data and referencing the image. I'll see how much work this will entail.

    Posted

  • mboschmd by mboschmd in response to Dr.Asteroid's comment.

    Planet Hunters has had no difficulty in awarding credit for the first 10 people to find a confirmed exoplanet, a precedent in place for over 4 years. This commitment to credit people for work performed is honest, sincere and fair.

    In fact, I and nine other citizen-scientist Planet Hunters are getting co-author credit in the soon to be published , "Planet Hunters X: KIC 8462852- Where's the Flux?, in The Monthly Notices of the the Royal Astronomical Society

    Posted