High-Level Project Summary
In this project we implemented a simulator which takes a 3D model of an object as an input, generates an animation of its rotation and produces it’s light curve, given the angle of observation. We used the open source software “Blender” for rendering pictures of the asteroid. The outcome was a 3D animation of the asteroid reflecting sunlight, while spun around the vertical axis. The animation frames which represent the angles of rotation are analyzed, calculating the average brightness of each frame, then are plotted producing the light curve.
Link to Project "Demo"
Link to Final Project
Detailed Project Description
2nd place, no global nominee.
Space Agency Data
the following were used to obtain the models for the 2 testing asteroids, Vesta and Kleopatra:
https://nasa3d.arc.nasa.gov/detail/asteroid-vesta
https://nasa3d.arc.nasa.gov/detail/kleopatra
This database contains light curve information about the relevant asteroids which was used to test the accuracy of the simulation:
https://alcdef.org
The following papers provided useful theoretical foundation for the understanding of the project:
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/PSJ/abb942/pdf
Hackathon Journey
Fun, helpful mentors.
Our team had 4 members so we split the responsibilities of researching and implementation. We laughed through our setbacks and we were able to solve most of our problems. We would like to thank one of our mentors, Margarita Belali, for providing us with research papers and useful ideas.
We failed because ILLUMINAT3D were better. <3
References
Vesta 3D model: https://nasa3d.arc.nasa.gov/detail/asteroid-vesta
Kleopatra 3D model: https://nasa3d.arc.nasa.gov/detail/kleopatra
Slide 3 – Penelope Light Curve: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:201_Penelope_light_curve.png
Slide 6 – Kleopatra Light Curve: http://www.underoakobservatory.com/2018MPBu_216Kleopatra.pdf
Lightcurve database: https://alcdef.org
Useful papers:
https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2015Icar..254....1F/abstract
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S001910351500127X?via%3Dihub
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/PSJ/abb942/pdf
ttps://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/orbitaldebris2019/orbital2019paper/pdf/6195.pdf
Tags
#light #curves #lightCurves #asteroids #trojans #kleopatra #Vesta #Auth #ece
Global Judging
This project has been submitted for consideration during the Judging process.