NASA released a free new desktop app that allows the public to help identify new asteroids from telescope photography, the agency announced at a panel during SXSW.

Developed in a partnership with NASA and Planetary Resources, the app uses a special asteroid hunting algorithm and allows users to automatically check images for potential asteroids using their PC.

The tool lets amateur astronomers analyze images from their telescopes and tells them if a matching asteroid record exists or not. Users can then report new findings via the app to the Minor Planet Center that confirms and archives the new asteroids.

“We are extremely encouraged by the algorithm created and it’s already making a difference,”Chris Lewicki, president and chief engineer at Planetary Resources, said in a prepared statement. “This increase in knowledge will help assess more quickly which asteroids are potential threats, human destinations or resource rich.”

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The algorithm used is the winning asteroid hunting algorithm from the Asteroid Data Hunter challenge. The contest was part of NASA’s Asteroid Grand Challenge and offered a total prize pool of US$55,000 to those who improve algorithms to better identify asteroids in telescope-captured photographs. The challenge falls under NASA's initiative to both identify potentially hazardous asteroids and highlight others as lunar orbit candidates for human exploration.

“The beauty of such archives is that the data doesn't grow stale, and with novel approaches, techniques and algorithms, they can be harvested for new information. The participants of the Asteroid Data Hunter challenge did just that, probing observations of the night sky for new asteroids that might have slipped through the software cracks the first time the images were analyzed,” said Jose Luis Galache of the MPC. “Moreover, this software can now be used to analyze new images and is available to any observer who wants to use it.”

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The winning algorithm was awarded to the best solution that improves detection sensitivity, reduces false positives, and supports all computer platforms. The chosen code increased new asteroid identification by 15 percent when images of the main belt asteroids between Mars and Jupiter were scanned.

“The Asteroid Data Hunter challenge has been successful beyond our hopes, creating something that makes a tangible difference to asteroid hunting astronomers and highlights the possibility for more people to play a role in protecting our planet,” said Jason Kessler, program executive for NASA’s Asteroid Grand Challenge.

Asteroid Data Hunting app is free to download from topcoder website and supports Mac and PC with a Linux client coming soon.Image Credit: NASA

Jenna Pitcher is a freelance journalist writing for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter