Of late, in Planetary Science Journal (all vol.6):
Salazar Manzano, L. E. Gerdes, D. W. Napier, K. J. et al. Prospects of a New L5 Trojan Flyby Target for the Lucy Mission 213 adf5c2
Dorsey, R. C. Hopkins, M. J. Bannister, M. T. et al. The Visibility of the Otautahi-Oxford Interstellar Object Population Model in LSST 214 adf8ca
Graykowski, A. Langin, G. Chiron, D. et al. The Ongoing Decline in Activity of Comet 103P/Hartley 2 224 ae018e
Landis, M. E. Prettyman, T. H. Castillo-Rogez, J. et al. Role of Natron in Delaying the Retreat of Buried Ice Tables on Ceres 230 ae0333
Bernstein, G. M. Brownian Motion of Main-belt Asteroids on Human Timescales 233 ae044f
Lucy is on track to fly by Jupiter trojan asteroids- plural; we already know of several along the trajectory, and of those, some have natural satellites (“moons”). But are there more? In the L5 (trailing) Trojan swarm, only one flyby is scheduled- for now. Any more possible?
Vera Rubin is also on track- initial shots and continuing demos are okay so far. Given a certain level of Rubin optical and programmatic performance, how many interstellar objects should we see, versus those predicted by the Ōtautahi-Oxford model?
Comets are “like cats”, said David Levy- they have tails and do what they want. One comet, Hartley 2, is well-studied, across multiple apparitions. That study is continuing; Graykowski et al. report their activity monitoring as the body recedes and cools.
Speaking of activity, Ceres emits vapors, technically making it a comet- a giant one, in a circular, flat orbit. It is obvious from Dawn data that ice is a minority constituent, mixed with other minerals (still like a comet). What outcomes might we predict, given starting assumptions on the other minerals? Landis et al. predict away, with one starting mineral assumed.
The Main Belt is… not like that Empire Strikes Back scene, but still populated with asteroids. It’s a matter of time before an asteroid suffers a collision, which has effects on size, composition, even orbit. But these are on timescales just below the age of the Solar System, a billion years or so. What of shorter (very short) timescales?