ADAM Precovery Service

Explore decades of unlinked observations by searching historical sky survey data. Extend observational arcs and improve orbital determination for asteroids and comets.

How It Works

Precovery searches through archival point-source datasets to find historical observations of moving objects. ADAM searches catalogs by computing predicted positions of asteroids and comets, then identifies serendipitous detections in archival data to extend observational arcs and improve orbital determination.

🔍 Discovery Power: Precovery can extend observational baselines by years, dramatically improving orbital accuracy and enabling better predictions of future positions.

Datasets currently included

  • NOIRLab Source Catalog (NSC) DR2
  • SkyMapper DR3
  • Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) — updating daily
  • ATLAS — updating daily

Video Guide

Watch a quick tutorial on using ADAM::Precovery.

ADAM::Precovery Tutorial

Interactive Demo Examples

Explore real precovery search results across different types of solar system objects. Each demo shows the full capabilities of our service with interactive results.

2016 SA2

Near-Earth Asteroid - 6 historical observation matches across multiple surveys

1I/'Oumuamua

Interstellar Object - 3 historical matches for the first known interstellar visitor

2024 YR4

Recent Discovery - 35 precovery observations found across ATLAS survey data

2018 RB2

Risk List Asteroid - 9 historical matches demonstrating high-speed sky motion recovery

C/2014 UN271

Comet Bernardinelli-Bernstein - 1,085 historical matches revealing extensive observational history

Ready to Discover Missed Observations?

Run precovery for known objects or for your own custom orbital state vectors. Create an account to access the full ADAM platform.

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