"Having this information is important in the context of the prevention and mitigation of natural disasters. Cosmic impacts - collisions of asteroids or comets with Earth - are one of the few natural disasters that can be predicted with great precision if sufficient data is available", explains Raúl de la Fuente Marcos, a researcher at the Department of Earth Physics, Astronomy and Astrophysics of the Universidad Complutense de Madrid.

The researchers used observational techniques (both spectroscopy and photometry), machine learning algorithms and artificial intelligence to identify new objects in the acquired images. These algorithms are exclusive to the Romanian ParaSOL project, funded by UEFISCDI, and to EURONEAR, an international collaboration that includes professional and amateur astronomers and students mostly from Romania, Spain, the United Kingdom and Chile.

"It is unusual for discoveries of objects that could collide with Earth to be made outside of the USA. Neither Europe, nor China, nor the Russian Federation have such ambitious programmes, with so many resources", acknowledges de la Fuente Marcos.

After a month of study, it became clear that the object was affected by an unusual resonance with Jupiter. Despite the fact that the Earth's orbit intersects that of the object, there is no real danger of a collision in the near future (years) and medium term (decades). "Predictions beyond the next century are too uncertain; more data are needed to enable reliable long-term predictions to be made", concludes the expert.

About the Isaac Newton Telescope

The Isaac Newton Telescope (INT) is operated on the island of La Palma by the Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes (ING) in the Spanish Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC). The ING is funded by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC-UKRI) of the United Kingdom, the Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (NWO) of the Netherlands, and the IAC in Spain. IAC's contribution to ING is funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities.

Related publications

Marcel M. Popescu, O. Văduvescu, J. de León, C. de la Fuente Marcos, R. de la Fuente Marcos, M. O. Stănescu, M. R. Alarcon, M. Serra Ricart, J. Licandro, D. BerteÅŸteanu, M. Predatu, L. Curelaru, F. Barwell, K. Jhass, C. Boldea, A. Aznar Macías, L. Hudin and B. A. Dumitru, 2023, "Discovery and physical characterization as the first response to a potential asteroid collision: The case of 2023 DZ₂", A&A, 676, A126 [ Paper ]

Discovery of 2023 DZ₂: MPEC 2023-F12, 16 March 2023.

Contacts

Raúl de la Fuente Marcos
Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain
rauldelafuentemarcosucm.es

Javier Méndez
ING PR Officer
outreaching.iac.es