AI Algorithm , Locates Previously Undetected , 'Hazardous' Asteroid.
'Dazed' reports that artificial intelligence has helped spot a "potentially hazardous asteroid" (PHA) for the first time.
.
The PHA was reportedly spotted by a star-gazing algorithm after having slipped past human scientists.
.
According to algorithm HelioLinc3D, the asteroid is approximately 600 feet long and on a course that will bring it within 140,000 miles of our planet.
Scientists project that the chances of the asteroid hitting the Earth in the next 100 years are fairly slim.
However, 'Dazed' reports that scientists have identified 2,350 PHAs and estimate that over 3,000 more remain unidentified.
HelioLinc3D, the algorithm responsible for spotting asteroid 2022 SF289, was developed for the Vera Rubin Observatory in Chile.
.
The discovery came amid a test run that proved that HelioLinc3D could beat existing algorithms in detecting PHAs.
.
By demonstrating the real-world effectiveness of the software that Rubin will use to look for thousands of yet-unknown potentially hazardous asteroids, the discovery of 2022 SF289 makes us all safer, Ari Heinze, the principal developer of HelioLinc3D and a researcher at the University of Washington, via 'Dazed'.
Scientists believe that the Rubin observatory, combined with the capabilities of HelioLinc3D, will be capable of spotting new PHAs on a daily basis.
