No dead of winter for Icarus. The Icarus issue for Jan. 2025 (vol. 425):
McClure, L.T. Emery, J.P. Thomas, C.A. et al. Size-based spectrophotometric analysis of the Polana-Eulalia Complex Article 116322 .2024.116322
Lee, K. Fang, Z. Wang, Z. Investigation of the incremental benefits of eccentric collisions in kinetic deflection of potentially hazardous asteroids Art 116312 .2024.116312
Dodds, K.H. Bryson, J.F.J. Neufeld, J.A. et al. The direction of core solidification in asteroids: Implications for dynamo generation Art. 116319 .2024.116319
Deienno, R. Denneau, L. Nesvorny, D. et al. The debiased Near-Earth object population from ATLAS telescopes Article 116316 .2024.116316
Bolin, B.T. Masci, F.J. Coughlin, M.W. et al. The Palomar twilight survey of ‘Axló’chaxnim, Atiras, and comets Article 116333 .2024.116333
Carruba, V. Aljbaae, S. Smirnov, E. et al. Vision Transformers for identifying asteroids
interacting with secular resonances Art. 116346 .2024.116346
Carbognani, A. Fenucci, M. Salerno, R. et al. Ab initio strewn field for small asteroids impacts Art. 116345 .2024.116345
Kapolka, T. J. Bettinger, R. A. Identification and analysis of interior and exterior resonant orbits in the Sun-Venus system Art. 116328 .2024.116328
Li, J. Xia, Z. J. Lei, H. et al. Resonant amplitude distribution of the Hilda asteroids and the
free-floating planet flyby scenario Art. 116340 .2024.116340
Miura, H. Numerical model for the solidification of a chondrule melt Article 116317
.2024.116317
Wang, P-Y. Cloutis, E. Su, Y. et al. Quantitative analysis of spectral properties and composition of primitive chondrites (acapulcoites, lodranites and winonaites) Art. 116320 .2024.116320
Garvin, J. B. Soare, R. J. Preface: Ices in the Solar system; origin, evolution and distribution Article 116303 .2024.116303
Kegerreis, J. A. Lissauer, J. J. Eke, V. R. et al. Origin of Mars’s moons by disruptive partial
capture of an asteroid Art. 116337 .2024.116337
The Polana and/or Eulalia collisional family(s) may be the progenitor(s) of Ryugu and/or Bennu. Kind of important. If we know of one, via samples in hand, then to an extent we know of the other, in telescopes. McClure et al. further test the Family-Individual Asteroid-Sample connection.
DART was one example… is there a chance we strike a glancing blow on an asteroid, instead of a bullseye? And just how off would a glancing blow need to be to constitute success/failure? This is a question that should not be tested on the day of need. Li et al. run through a test sim.
Some asteroids have cores and crusts, like planets. But for a small body, the physics aren’t directly transferrable; what does core formation look like inside non-planets? Dodds et al asks.
Are the populations we see in telescopes an accurate sample, or are we highlighting some NEOs, missing others? This is important, both for deflecting them, mining them, or just studying them. Deienno et al., as have previous papers, consider our search thoroughness (or lack thereof?). Searches like… Bolin et al.’s! They look in the sunward direction, more difficult for other sky surveys due to the Sun’s glare. Objects in this direction are likely to be missing… so far.
Circularizing McClure and Deienno, Carruba et al. attempt to parse the dynamic pathways that feed asteroids from the Main Belt, to other regions (such as NEO space). These “escape hatches” are needed to replenish the NEO population, and provide us with targets.
Carbognani et al. consider the results: falling meteorites from such NEOs. Given an incoming asteroid, we’re not so good at finding the meteorites on the ground afterward. Carbognani et al. sharpen the pencils on the final, atmospheric trajectories of the fragments.
Circularizing Bolin and Carruba, Kapolka Bettinger consider asteroids near Venus. Does the Sun-Venus-[Asteroid] gravitational system produce stable populations, unstable escape hatches, or maybe something else completely? And let’s extend this to Li et al. Jupiter forms a (fairly) stable population of asteroids, the Hilda objects. In the early Solar System, might a loose, drifting planet leave a mark in the Hilda population, and how would we know? The results bode for exoplanets.
And let’s not forget the chondrules. These trace building blocks from the early Solar System are archeological finds, asteroid constituents, meteorite markers, and generally interesting material. Miura steps us through the building of the building blocks, with a test sim.
Circularizing Miura and Dodds, some early asteroids had heated enough to soften, but then fell short of differentiating a core and crust. These borderline cases are very telling for our understanding of core and crust differentiation, and of conditions in the early Solar System. Wang et al. put another spotlight on these rare, transitional cases.
Let’s not forget Garvin Soares’ intro. Ice in the Solar System is not just an issue for comets, outer Solar System moons and planets, icy dust grains etc., but for asteroids too. Plenty of asteroids formed with ice content, and some asteroids (or ‘asteroids’) appear to still have some. Garvin Soare specifically bring up the issue of Ryugu/Bennu in their intro.
An open question is the Phobos-Deimos question. Are the two natural satellites of Mars captured asteroids, re-formed clumps of Mars ejecta after a big splat, or something else? This question is important enough for JAXA to build and fly MMX (Mars Moons eXploration). Kegerreis et al. consider a ‘something else’- a possible third formation scenario.