In the current issue of MIT Technology Review (Sep/Oct, vol. 128 #5):
Tereza Pultarova p. 12 Job titles of the future: Satellite Streak Astronomer
Robin George Andrews p. 42 Inside the hunt for the most dangerous asteroid ever
Yes, we have an asteroid cover story (shared, admittedly)… and a second, shorter piece. Pultarova shares with us the Rubin Observatory and its efforts to manage harm from satellite constellations. Previously, a satellite streak in an astronomical image was a rare nuisance, to be “cleaned” similar to cosmic rays or dust in the optics. But more satellites have been launched in the past eight years than in the previous seventy-eight- far more- and they’re in low Earth orbit, where they’re brighter. Pultarova interviews Rubin’s dedicated streak specialist.
(I, personally, will note that the satellites are a bigger issue at dusk and dawn. This is when we’re trying to spot asteroids in Earthlike and interior-to-Earth orbits, which is fertile but less-covered territory. These Aten and Atira asteroids are more likely to cross Earth, more likely to go unseen by traditional sky surveys… and more accessible targets for space missions. Satellite streaking is thus a big deal.)
Andrews (whom I’ve posted before) shares with us notes from the 2024 YR4 timeline, in timeline format. Here’s a good, real-life illustration of the asteroid detection and follow-up process, introducing some of the (many) people in that process. And yes, this includes T. Terai, whose Subaru Telescope work I’ve posted before. The asteroid 2024 YR4 was discovered and publicly posted, followed up on by numerous orgs, and numerous more after the resulting orbit solution indicated a possible Earth crossing. Read accessible and sane coverage of the whole occurrence, working as it should.