» Searching for space debris elements with the “Pi of the Sky” system

Presentation duration: 15 minutes

Presenter: Marcin Sokolowski

The main purpose of the “Pi of the Sky” system is an investigation of short timescale astrophysical phenomena ( particularly gamma-ray bursts, optical transients and variable stars ). However, the wide field, short exposures, full automatism of the system together with effective algorithms give good perspectives to effectively identify space debris elements. Such objects can be a great danger for space missions and should be continuously monitored and cataloged. The algorithms for identification of optical transients ( OT ) designed for the “Pi of the Sky” experiment allow to identify moving objects. The algorithm verifies each OT candidate against database of known objects, but is also able to automatically discover moving objects observed in images, but not present in this database. The data collected by the prototype in Las Campanas Observatory allowed to obtain a large sample of observations of moving objects. Some of these objects were identified as high-orbit geostationary satellites, which shows that it is possible to observe even distant satellites with small aperture photo lenses. The analysis of the sample is still going on. The preliminary results and algorithms for automatic identification of moving objects will be presented.