Large photometric database and application to asteroid data from multiple space- and ground-based surveys

Nowadays, we are experiencing a revolution in astronomical surveys. Thanks to ground-based and orbiting telescopes, millions of observations of asteroids in various photometric filters are available. One way to take full advantage of the vast amount of data from different telescopes is to merge the databases that each one generates. The main challenge in combining these data sets involves processing information with distinct properties (for example, different random and systematic errors, some non-Gaussian, different filters, or observation conditions).

Our project aims to create tools to handle large volumes of data, allowing their efficient reading, processing, and analysis. In addition, we will employ several models with different levels of complexity to investigate whether more advanced techniques lead to a reduction in the uncertainties of the phase curve parameters or in determining them more accurately. The ultimate goal of this project is to derive phase curve parameters corrected for shape and viewing geometry for a considerable number of asteroids. For the first time, this will allow the use of surface scattering properties statistically to address significant challenges in planetary science.  

From this extensive database, we present initial estimates of the parameters of the phase curves. In addition, our large sample size allows us to perform a preliminary statistical analysis of the obtained parameters.