Gaia@home uses the computing power of volunteers to build three-dimensional shape models of asteroids from the way their brightness changes as they rotate. How SAGE works

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Model gallery · How SAGE works

Gaia@home relaunched: a new method for asteroid shapes
Gaia@home is back – with a new scientific goal

The research carried out in Gaia@home so far has reached the limit of what it could deliver, so we have rebuilt the project around a new task: reconstructing the shapes of asteroids from their lightcurves – the way their brightness changes as they rotate.

The new application, SAGE, uses your computers to evolve thousands of shape variants and test which ones best reproduce years of observations. The result is the shape, spin axis and rotation period of an asteroid, together with a map of which parts of its surface are well determined.

What this means for you

[*]Your account, credit, computers, team and forum posts have been carried over. Nothing to do – your BOINC client will reconnect on its own.
[*]Old tasks have been retired. If your client shows errors for old Gaia@home tasks, use "Reset project" in the BOINC Manager.
[*]The new application runs on 64-bit Linux and Windows.
[*]The website has moved to a new server. Asteroid models will appear in the gallery as they are completed.

Thank you for staying with us all this time. Questions and problem reports are welcome on the forum.
2 Nov 2026, 7:12:24 UTC · Discuss

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