Wow, good Astronomy & Astrophysics for July (vol 699):
Smirnov, E. A. Chaotic diffusion and transient resonance captures of the near-Earth asteroid 2024 YR4 A26 202554489
Läuter, M. and Kramer, T. Rotation dynamics and torque efficiency of cometary nuclei A75
202553845
Carruba, V. Sfair, R. Araujo, R. A. N. et al. The invisible threat – Assessing the collisional hazard posed by undiscovered Venus co-orbital asteroids A86 202554320
Fulle, M. Molaro, P. Rotundi, A. et al. Alkali phenoxides in comets A110 202554255
Ni, C. and Zhang, H. Estimation of the particle-size distributions of regolith on the surface of (25143) Itokawa based on near-infrared reflectance spectra A116 202553661
Langner, K. Martellato, E. Luther, R. et al. Secondary-impact debris in the Didymos system: What could be observed by Hera? A123 202554146
Hänni, N. Altwegg, K. Baklouti, D. et al. Nitrogen- and nitrogen-oxygen-bearing organic molecules in comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko: An untargeted investigation A135 202554563
Vernazza, P. Simon, P. N. Jorda, L. et al. JWST mid-infrared spectroscopy of centaurs and small trans-Neptunian objects: Linking the inner and outer Solar System A167 202555084
Palamakumbure, L. Syrjänen, S. A. I. Korda, D. et al. Predicting the surface age of chondritic S-type asteroids using the space weathering features in reflectance spectra: Small… A175 202554173
Zhang, Y. Xu, Y-B. Qi, Z. et al. Shape index of Yarkovsky effect on irregularly shaped asteroids A28 202453612
Vavilov, D. E. and Hestroffer, D. Semilinear impact monitoring – Partial-banana mapping: Search for impactors A158 202449310
More 2024 YR4 details- here, dynamical history, courtesy of Smirnov.
On a (far) smaller scale, let’s consider dynamics of comet nuclei, even with jetting, with Läuter et al.
2024 YR4, like the Chelyabinsk impactor, approached from the sunward side. Carruba et al. extend this to bodies in Venus’ gravitational reign. Not even Rubin, in its twilight survey, will find all Venus-linked bodies that could (eventually) threaten Earth, they claim. A space telescope should be used.
Comets: we know surprisingly little on them, due to the difficulty of flying probes to their long, tilted orbits. Besides Läuter, see Fulle et al. and Hänni et al. The good questions lead to more questions.
Ni et al. return to Itokawa as a known asteroid. Knowing what we do, can Itokawa be a template to observe other, un-probed asteroids? Specifically, can we deduce regolith from ground telescopes?
Hera is now headed for Didymos/Dimorphos. Given what we’ve deduced from ground telescopes, there should be lofted Dimorphos boulders. Langner et al. ask what will Hera find when it gets there?
JWST is a bit awkward at tracking asteroids near Earth (due to fast panning). But Centaurs and trans-Neptunian Objects, that’s JW territory. Do the small bodies of the Solar System have more in common than first assumed, and does JW tell us more about asteroids than first assumed?
Both Ni et al. and Palamakumbure et al. tackle the same issue. Palamakumbure tries machine learning.
Zhang et al. is related to but different than Läuter et al. Comets may have jets, asteroids may have a noticeable Yarkovsky effect. Both are things we’re trying to take into account.
And speaking of dynamics: how do we put decimal places on asteroid orbits, to find a true threat or not? The “partial banana” method is used in orbit determination. Vavilov et al. step through it.