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1. New Active Asteroid 2015 VA108: A Citizen Science Discovery

   https://doi.org/10.3847/2515-5172/acbbce  

   Chandler, Colin Orion; Oldroyd, William J; Trujillo, Chadwick A; Burris, William A; Hsieh, Henry H; Kueny, Jay K; Mazzucato, Michele T; Bosch, Milton_K D; Shaw-Diaz, Tiffany (February 2023, Research Notes of the AAS)

   Abstract We announce the discovery of activity, in the form of a distinct cometary tail, emerging from main-belt asteroid 2015 VA₁₀₈. Activity was first identified by volunteers of the Citizen Science project Active Asteroids (a NASA Partner). We uncovered one additional image from the same observing run which also unambiguously shows 2015 VA₁₀₈with a tail oriented between the anti-solar and anti-motion vectors that are often correlated with activity orientation on sky. Both publicly available archival images were originally acquired UT 2015 October 11 with the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) on the Blanco 4 m telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (Chile) as part of the Dark Energy Camera Legacy Survey. Activity occurred near perihelion and, combined with its residence in the main asteroid belt, 2015 VA₁₀₈is a candidate main-belt comet, an active asteroid subset known for volatile sublimation. 

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2. AI-enhanced Citizen Science Discovery of an Active Asteroid: (410590) 2008 GB140

   https://doi.org/10.3847/2515-5172/ad2b67  

   Chandler, Colin Orion; Sedaghat, Nima; Oldroyd, William J.; Trujillo, Chadwick A.; Burris, William A.; Hsieh, Henry H.; Kueny, Jay K.; Farrell, Kennedy A.; DeSpain, Jarod A.; Magbanua, Mark Jesus; et al (February 2024, Research Notes of the AAS)

   Abstract We report the discovery of cometary activity emanating from Main-belt asteroid 410590 (2008 GB₁₄₀), a finding facilitated, for the first time, by an artificial intelligence (AI) assistant. The assistant,TailNet, is a prototype we designed to enhance volunteer efforts of our Citizen Science projectActive Asteroids, a NASA Partner program hosted on theZooniverseplatform. Our follow-up investigation revealed eight Dark Energy Camera images showing 2008 GB₁₄₀with a tail spanning UT 2023 April 23–UT 2023 July 3, when the object was inbound to perihelion. We classify 2008 GB₁₄₀as an active asteroid and a candidate Main-belt comet (MBC)—a main-belt asteroid that undergoes volatile sublimation-driven activity. Notably, 2008 GB₁₄₀is presently near perihelion, thus the object is a prime target for follow-up observations to further characterize its activity. 

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3. 2016 UU121: An Active Asteroid Discovery via AI-enhanced Citizen Science

   https://doi.org/10.3847/2515-5172/ad2b66  

   Sedaghat, Nima; Chandler, Colin Orion; Oldroyd, William J.; Trujillo, Chadwick A.; Burris, William A.; Hsieh, Henry H.; Kueny, Jay K.; Farrell, Kennedy A.; DeSpain, Jarod A.; Magbanua, Mark Jesus; et al (February 2024, Research Notes of the AAS)

   Abstract We report the discovery of an active asteroid, 2016 UU₁₂₁, for the first time via artificial intelligence-enhanced classification, informed by our NASA Partner programActive Asteroids, a Citizen Science project hosted on theZooniverseplatform. The early version of our deep neural network,TailNet, identified potential activity associated with 2016 UU₁₂₁in 40 Dark Energy Camera (DECam) images from UT 2021 September 10 to 11. The discovery was vetted and confirmed by ourActive Asteroidscore science team. In total, 66 DECam images of this object showed clear activity in the form of a tail. 2016 UU₁₂₁has a Tisserand parameter with respect to Jupiter of 3.161, thus we classify the object as an active asteroid. Moreover, the activity occurred near perihelion, so 2016 UU₁₂₁is also a candidate Main-belt comet. 

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4. New Active Asteroid (588045) 2007 FZ18

   https://doi.org/10.3847/2515-5172/acd768  

   Chandler, Colin Orion; Oldroyd, William J.; Hsieh, Henry H.; Trujillo, Chadwick A.; Burris, William A.; Kueny, Jay K.; DeSpain, Jarod A.; Farrell, Kennedy A.; Mazzucato, Michele T.; Bosch, Milton K.; et al (May 2023, Research Notes of the AAS)

   Abstract We present evidence that, on UT 2018 February 15, main-belt asteroid (588045) 2007 FZ₁₈displayed cometary activity in the form of two tails, one each in the anti-solar and anti-motion directions. Activity was first identified by volunteers of the NASA Partner program Active Asteroids, a Citizen Science program hosted on the Zooniverse platform, in an image acquired with the Dark Energy Camera on the Blanco 4 m telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. Notably, (588045) 2007 FZ₁₈is inbound toward perihelion, so telescope observations are timely to detect a possible second activity outburst. 

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5. New Active Quasi-Hilda Asteroid 2004 CV50: A Citizen Science Discovery

   https://doi.org/10.3847/2515-5172/ad09c1  

   Chandler, Colin Orion; Oldroyd, William J.; Trujillo, Chadwick A.; Burris, William A.; Hsieh, Henry H.; Kueny, Jay K.; Farrell, Kennedy A.; DeSpain, Jarod A.; Sedaghat, Nima; Mendoza Magbanua, Mark Jesus; et al (November 2023, Research Notes of the AAS)

   Abstract We report that minor planet 2004 CV₅₀displayed cometary activity in the form of a short, diffuse tail, first identified by volunteers of the Citizen Science programActive Asteroids, a NASA Partner program hosted on theZooniverseonline platform. The activity is present in three images, from UT 2020 February 15 and UT 2020 March 14, that were acquired with the Dark Energy Camera on the Blanco 4 m telescope at the Cerro-Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. We find that 2004 CV₅₀is most likely an active quasi-Hilda object rather than an active asteroid, despite 2004 CV₅₀having a Tisserand parameter with respect to Jupiter of 3.06. 

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