Time for another update from Planetary Science Journal (they don’t have issues):
Nagaashi, Y. et al. Surface Energy of Insoluble Organic Matter Simulant: Evaluation Based on Adhesive Force Measured by Centrifugal and Impact Separation Methods 34 ada60c
Bray, V. J. et al. Crater Dimensions on the Dwarf Planets 37 ad9fec
Stickle, A. M. et al. Dimorphos’s Material Properties and Estimates of Crater Size from the DART Impact 38 ad944d
Murray, Z. Can Well-sampled Phase Curves Be Used to Infer Asteroid Spectral Features? 40 ada0ad
Popescu, M. M. et al. Ground-based Characterization of (98943) Torifune 2001 CC21, the Target of the Hayabusa2 Space Mission 42 ada560
Cabra, A. et al. Laboratory Study of Dust Mobilization on Airless Planetary Bodies in the Solar Wind Plasma 46 adb02c
Rommel, F. L. et al. Stellar Occultation Observations of (38628) Huya and Its Satellite: A Detailed Look into the System 48 adabc1
Gregg, C. R. Wiegert, P. A. A Case Study of Interstellar Material Delivery: Alpha Centauri
56 adble9
Carbonaceous chondrite meteorites are famed for organics- organic chemicals in the form of a lesser distribution, but mostly in the form of tiny blebs of carbon-based chemicals. How do these little deposits of gooey material interact when the meteorite goes through its various processes? Nagaashi et al. perform laboratory astronomy, simulating these organic droplets.
A bit larger than drops: impact craters on space surfaces. Bray et al. ponder the implications of the cratering record- a history, written in rock, of the bodies and dynamics of the Solar System.
Speaking of craters, there’s still the question of the DART impact into Dimorphos. Stickle et al. consider the crater before Hera can settle the issue.
We are continually, repeatedly trying to characterize asteroids, turning them from dots in the sky to places we can say something about. Two of those things are lightcurves (brightening-dimming patterns and timings) and spectroscopy (precision ‘colors’). Are the two actually tied to each other? It’s an interesting question, with some implications if true. Good luck, Murray, Popescu et al.
Airless bodies have exposed surfaces, and exposed surfaces experience the physics of the solar wind, cosmic rays, micrometeorite impacts, etc.- definitely not an Earthlike environment. So what are the implications of this unearthly environment? More laboratory astronomy from Cabra et al.
If we can’t image asteroids directly in our telescopes, we can derive their shapes via occultations. In occultations, an asteroid passes in front of a background star, and the star appears to blink. Tracking the blinks from multiple sites then allows a reconstruction of the asteroid’s silhouette. Rommel et al. have reconstructed the silhouette of one such body, and its satellite, too.
If our System has asteroids and comets, other systems do, too, and they sometimes leak away. Although rare, the sheer number of stars means that space should be full of these ‘strays’ (interstellar objects). Gregg et al. consider, given the surface area of our Solar System, how many interstellar objects (from a nearby star) would intercept that surface.