Towards Efficient Detection of Small Near-Earth Asteroids Using the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF). (arXiv:1904.09645v1 [astro-ph.EP])

Towards Efficient Detection of Small Near-Earth Asteroids Using the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF). (arXiv:1904.09645v1 [astro-ph.EP])
<a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Ye_Q/0/1/0/all/0/1">Quanzhi Ye</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Masci_F/0/1/0/all/0/1">Frank J. Masci</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Lin_H/0/1/0/all/0/1">Hsing Wen Lin</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Bolin_B/0/1/0/all/0/1">Bryce Bolin</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Chang_C/0/1/0/all/0/1">Chan-Kao Chang</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Duev_D/0/1/0/all/0/1">Dmitry A. Duev</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Helou_G/0/1/0/all/0/1">George Helou</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Ip_W/0/1/0/all/0/1">Wing-Huen Ip</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Kaplan_D/0/1/0/all/0/1">David L. Kaplan</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Kramer_E/0/1/0/all/0/1">Emily Kramer</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Mahabal_A/0/1/0/all/0/1">Ashish Mahabal</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Ngeow_C/0/1/0/all/0/1">Chow-Choong Ngeow</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Nielsen_A/0/1/0/all/0/1">Avery J. Nielsen</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Prince_T/0/1/0/all/0/1">Thomas A. Prince</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Tan_H/0/1/0/all/0/1">Hanjie Tan</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Yeh_T/0/1/0/all/0/1">Ting-Shuo Yeh</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Bellm_E/0/1/0/all/0/1">Eric C. Bellm</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Dekany_R/0/1/0/all/0/1">Richard Dekany</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Giomi_M/0/1/0/all/0/1">Matteo Giomi</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Graham_M/0/1/0/all/0/1">Matthew J. Graham</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Kulkarni_S/0/1/0/all/0/1">Shrinivas R. Kulkarni</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Kupfer_T/0/1/0/all/0/1">Thomas Kupfer</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Laher_R/0/1/0/all/0/1">Russ R. Laher</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Rusholme_B/0/1/0/all/0/1">Ben Rusholme</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Shupe_D/0/1/0/all/0/1">David L. Shupe</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Ward_C/0/1/0/all/0/1">Charlotte Ward</a>

We describe ZStreak, a semi-real-time pipeline specialized in detecting
small, fast-moving near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) that is currently operating on
the data from the newly-commissioned Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) survey.
Based on a prototype originally developed by Waszczak et al. (2017) for the
Palomar Transient Factory (PTF), the predecessor of ZTF, ZStreak features an
improved machine-learning model that can cope with the $10times$ data rate
increment between PTF and ZTF. Since its first discovery on 2018 February 5
(2018 CL), ZTF/ZStreak has discovered $45$ confirmed new NEAs over a total of
232 observable nights until 2018 December 31. Most of the discoveries are small
NEAs, with diameters less than $sim100$ m. By analyzing the discovery
circumstances, we find that objects having the first to last detection time
interval under 2 hr are at risk of being lost. We will further improve
real-time follow-up capabilities, and work on suppressing false positives using
deep learning.

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