Video Showing Half a Million Asteroid Discoveries 154
An anonymous reader writes "Since 1980 over a half million asteroids have been discovered, mostly between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, now thanks to this video you can see this activity condensed into a few minutes. At full resolution it's a mesmerizing experience as new discoveries are added and the video makes it possible to see patterns in the discovery positions, for example a large number appear in line between Earth and Jupiter as astronomers started looking for smaller jovian moons after Voyagers visit to the system."
Cpt Obvious Observation (Score:4, Interesting)
It's interesting how the video highlights the fact that the bulk of the asteroids seem to be discovered in a direction of the earth's orbit opposite the sun. Seems obvious when you think about it, but it really becomes apparent from watching the vid.
What about the trojans? (Score:2, Interesting)
I'm wondering why I see no conspicuous clustering at the trojan points of Earth and Venus. Are asteroids there harder to detect?
Re:I see you! (Score:2, Interesting)
One Sun to rule them all, One Sun to find them,
One Sun to bring them all and with its gravity bind them
In the Solar System where the asteroids fly.
Re:Some notes From The Creator (Score:2, Interesting)
I would love to see the original, full resolution video. Could you upload it somewhere, or perhaps put it up on BitTorrent?
Also, what data sets did you use in the preparation of this movie? I would be interested to see the orbit specifications for all of these asteroids.