We’re due for a PSJ (Planetary Science Journal) (2025- vol. 6) update- way overdue, apparently:
Helfenstein, P. Verbiscer, A. J. On Error Estimates for Hapke Photometric Model Parameters from Disk-integrated Phase Curves of Airless Planetary Bodies 144 adcd5d
Lee, A. Kavelaars, J. J. Teimoorinia, H. et al. A Convolutional Neural Network-Based Approach for Detecting Solar System Objects in Wide-field Imaging 147 add409
Wiegert, P. Vida, D. Clark, D. L. et al. A Limit on the Mass of the Taurid Resonant Swarm at Sub-100 m Sizes 148 adde50
Bottke, W. F. Meyer, A. J. Vokrouhlický, D. et al. Surface Ages for the Sample Return Asteroids Bennu, Ryugu, and Itokawa 150 add46a
Holman, M. J. Napier, K. J. Payne, M. J. et al. A Pan-STARRS Search for Distant Planets: Part 1 152 addd03
Markwardt, L. Wen Lin, H. Holler, B. J. et al. From Colors to Spectra and Back Again: First Near-IR Spectroscopic Survey of Neptunian Trojans 154 addecd
Farnham, T. L. Sunshine, J. M. Hirabayashi, M. et al. High-speed Boulders and the Debris Field in DART Ejecta 155 addd1a
Pike, R. E. Murray-Clay, R. Volk, K. et al. LiDO: Discovery of a 10:1 Resonator with a Novel Libration State 156 addd22
Senel, C. B. Luther, R. Karatekin, Ö. et al. DART-scale Impacts into a Complex Low-strength Target: Insights into Asteroid Dimorphos’s Interior from Simulations 157 addf31
Arredondo, A. Rotationally Resolved Near-infrared Spectroscopy of Three Large Eurybates Family Members 159 ade67a
Bruce Hapke- a pretty smart guy, who figured out the reflectance properties of bodies. The Hapke parameters are then named in his honor. But there aren’t single parameter values, any more than there’s one type of small body. Even assuming hard vacuum doesn’t collapse the model down to an archetype. Helfenstein et al. try to get more decimal places on the problem.
It’s hard enough to get nontrivial telescopes built. They then need to be operated in an efficient sky survey, then the images need to be sifted for any targets. Lee et al. try, as others, to accelerate and automate the sifting.
The Taurid Complex is a family of small bodies in similar orbits, assumed to be pieces from a long-ago comet collision. Taurid objects go all the way down to dust grains, which hit Earth’s atmosphere as the Taurid meteor shower (hence the name). But what of the larger, fewer particles? The <100-meter class is too rare to form fireballs at any statistical significance (whew…), yet they’re too small to be visible except in an impractically-small volume near us. Wiegert et al. attempt to derive this class anyway.
Sample return: the science investigations just keep going and going. Itokawa, Ryugu, and Bennu particles were all sampled from at or near the surface of their asteroids; even the Ryugu cratering experiment (SCI) only dug a few meters down. Meanwhile, the regolith on these bodies turns over (on geologic timescales) when impactors stir the bits. How long had our samples been surface bits, not turned over? Bottke et al. are on it.
Holman et al.: pretty self-explanatory from the title. The Pan-STARRS telescopes are two in number, almost two meters in aperture- pretty formidable for a search program.
Before the Hapke parameters, we find the color (“spectral slope”) of a target; then if we’re lucky, we use finer instruments to get a crude spectrum (multiple colors). Markwardt et al. report their results for Neptune Trojan objects, not trivial due to the long distance and faint sunlight at that part of the Solar System.
You may have already seen lay coverage of Farnham et al. The DART impact experiment at Didymos/Dimorphos gave a real deflection of an asteroid. What we’ve learned in the years since is that boulders were lofted, turning the Didymos system into a pigpen.
…and speaking of Neptune-commensurate small bodies: Pike et al. report their discovery of a TNO (Trans-Neptunian Object). What makes this one newsworthy over a thousand others is that it’s in a resonant orbit with Neptune, implying something of its history.
…and speaking of DART: impact experiments (including the SCI at Ryugu) are multi-faceted and revealing, where taking a simple picture is not. Senel et al. attempt, with caveats, to deduce what the DART results (like Farnham et al.) can further tell us.
The Eurybates family, like the Taurid Complex, are assumed to be bits from one parent body. Arredondo 2025, like Wiegert et al., parse this family for any clues.