FindPOTATOs: Minor Planet Observation Linking Software

TL;DR

FindPOTATOs is a Python software tool designed to efficiently link minor planet observations into tracklets, facilitating the archiving and scientific analysis of diverse small Solar System bodies.

Contribution

The paper introduces FindPOTATOs, a novel Python-based linking software capable of assembling minor planet tracklets across various object types and observational conditions.

Findings

Successfully links tracklets for near-Earth and trans-Neptunian objects.

Effective processing of small observatory and archival data.

Validated accuracy and efficiency of the software.

Abstract

For minor planet observations to be archived and used by the scientific community, observations of individual objects must be linked together into groups called tracklets. This linking is nontrivial, as linking software must find real tracklets in noisy data within a reasonable amount of time. We describe FindPOTATOs, a linking software written in Python that can assemble minor planet tracklets. With the appropriate parameters, FindPOTATOs assembles tracklets for a variety of objects, including close-approaching near-Earth objects and trans-Neptunian objects. FindPOTATOs is ideal for processing data sets taken at small observatories, processing archival data, or finding tracklets of minor planets on unusual orbits. This paper describes the code structure, usage, and validation.