A comparative analysis of machine learning classifiers in the classification of resonant asteroids

Abstract

This study explores how well various machine learning classifiers can identify mean-motion resonances in the main belt using supervised learning. The most popular classifiers are assessed: k-Nearest Neighbours, Decision Tree, Gradient Boosting, AdaBoost, Random Forest, and Naïve Bayes. In contrast to previous studies that often relied on default ML configurations, this research conducts a detailed investigation, fine-tuning, and testing of each classifier across various parameters. The results show that simpler models, especially k-Nearest Neighbours and Decision Tree, perform better than more complex ones, particularly in terms of F1 scores. The paper provides guides on selecting features, parameters, and training set sizes for optimal classifier performance and outlines a method for developing effective machine-learning models for asteroid classification.