Machine learning classification of new asteroid families members

Author(s)

Carruba, V ^[1] ; Aljbaae, S. ^[2] ; Domingos, R. C. ^[3] ; Lucchini, A. ^[1] ; Furlaneto, P. ^[1]

Affiliation

^[1] Sao Paulo State Univ UNESP, Sch Nat Sci & Engn, BR-12516410 Guaratingueta, SP - Brazil

^[2] Natl Space Res Inst INPE, Div Space Mech & Control, CP 515, BR-12227310 Sao Jose Dos Campos, SP - Brazil

^[3] Sao Paulo State Univ UNESP, BR-13874149 Sao Joao Da Boa Vista, SP - Brazil

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society; v. 496, n. 1, p. 540-549, JUL 2020.
• Web of Science Citations: 0

Abstract

Asteroid families are groups of asteroids that are the product of collisions or of the rotational fission of a parent object. These groups are mainly identified in proper elements or frequencies domains. Because of robotic telescope surveys, the number of known asteroids has increased from similar or equal to 10 000 in the early 1990s to more than 750 000 nowadays. Traditional approaches for identifying new members of asteroid families, like the hierarchical clustering method (HCM), may struggle to keep up with the growing rate of new discoveries. Here we used machine learning classification algorithms to identify new family members based on the orbital distribution in proper (a, e, sin (i)) of previously known family constituents. We compared the outcome of nine classification algorithms from stand-alone and ensemble approaches. The extremely randomized trees (ExtraTree) method had the highest precision, enabling to retrieve up to 97 per cent of family members identified with standard HCM. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 18/20999-6 - Young asteroid families: exploring the limit between fission groups and collisional families
• Grantee: Valerio Carruba
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants