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2009 Annual Science Report

University of Hawaii, Manoa Reporting  |  JUL 2008 – AUG 2009

PanSTARRS MBC Stamp Server and Detection Limits

Project Summary

We have been developing the architecture to search for main belt comets (MBCs) in the upcoming Pan-STARRS1 all sky survey. MBCs are an important new reservoir of water in the inner solar system, and we hope to be detecting a steady stream of them in PS1 beginning in late 2009 or early 2010.

4 Institutions
3 Teams
0 Publications
0 Field Sites
Field Sites

Project Progress

The Pan-STARRS1 (PS1) project is an all-sky survey using a 1.8 meter telescope on Haleakala in Hawaii. Starting in late 2009, we intend to be using Pan STARRS to search for Main Belt Comets (MBCs) in the asteroid belt using automated algorithms we have developed. We have been working on progressing toward this survey in several ways over the past year.

We have developed a system (“stamp store”) for storing and archiving intermediate static-sky subtracted images for transient detections, like asteroids. Normally, these images would be deleted, but we need them to apply specialized photometry to search for comet-like activity. This system will archive and organize approximately 40 terabytes of data over the 3.5 year lifetime of the project.

Previously, we developed an approach for searching for MBC activity based on searching for the brightest segment around a point source. We have now refined it, and incorporated it into a data processing pipeline that automatically polls new PS1 asteroid detections, performs specialized photometry on images in the above stamp store, and accumulates statistics used in deciding whether an object is an MBC candidate.

In addition, we have been collaborating with the developers in PS1 to ensure that the system will meet the needs of this project. For example, a condition of PS1’s Air Force funding is satellite streak removal, and we have performed simulations to ensure that MBCs are not deleted as well.

This project will eventually yield a full measure of the MBC population, will help determine the prevalence of water in the inner Solar System, and will provide likely provide targets for possible NASA missions to visit these bodies.

Figure 1. ​Images of known asteroids as produced by Pan-STARRS1 and archived by our processing system. The dark negative image is a temporary artifact of the initial method of image differencing.

  • PROJECT INVESTIGATORS:
  • RELATED OBJECTIVES:
    Objective 1.1
    Formation and evolution of habitable planets.

    Objective 2.2
    Outer Solar System exploration

    Objective 6.2
    Adaptation and evolution of life beyond Earth