Congrats to director Wes Anderson, auteur of (among other things- lots of other things) 2023’s Asteroid City. The actual asteroid numbered 689822, formerly designated 2013 PU10, is now officially asteroid (689822) Anderson.
The June issue of Planetary and Space Science (Volume 260) includes: Song, Z. Liu, Z. Quan, R. Three-dimensional simulation of surface charging in meteorite craters on rotating asteroids Article 106089 .2025.106089Slyusarev, I. G. et al. Opposition effect of M-type asteroids … Read More »Note, Paper: Drilling Down in Dust
Here’s one out of the blue. In the journal Communications in Nonlinear Science and Numerical Simulation: Wu, Y. Song, Z. Zhang, X. et al. The dynamic corridor of regolith transportation near a spinning-up asteroid 108905 .2025.108905 Particle dynamics has lots of applications- mining,… Read More »Note, Paper: Astr-lanche
The Off Nominal podcast, episode 195, features Dante Lauretta talking OREx with the hosts: https://offnom.com/episodes/195 “Dirtiest Thing in the Cleanroom (with Dante Lauretta)” Have a listen.
Let’s check on Journal of Propulsion and Power for May (vol. 41 #3): Ezuka, F. Koizumi, H. Nakano, M. et al. Effect of Nonuniform Plasma on Grid Erosion of the Water Ion Thruster pp. 313 1.B39004Kim, J. W. Bhosale, V.… Read More »Note, Paper: Green Steam
How did I miss this one… in Space Science Reviews (vol.221): Nakamura, T. Engrand, C. Zolensky, M. et al. Sample Return Missions: Rosetta Stones Returned from the First Small Bodies in the Solar System 44 s11214-025-002268-4 Yes, Space Science Reviews.… Read More »Note, Paper: Sample Return Science Reviews
Commissioning of systems on the Vera Rubin Observatory continues. Tuning of the active optics systems (NOT adaptive optics) continues. This past week, both Alpha Centauri and Earth’s natural satellite became visible. These bright objects served as crude calibrators, allowing tests… Read More »Vera Rubin Update (Mid-May 2025)
The June 2025 issue of Icarus (vol. 433) is a good one: Ribeiro de Sousa, R. Izidoro, A. Morbidelli, A. et al. Reassessing the origin and evolution of Ecliptic Comets in the Planet-9 Scenario Article 116472 .2025.116472de Luis, M. Parro, L.… Read More »Note, Paper: Asteroids A-Go-Go
Tonight, May 16 is the International Day of Light. Organized by UNESCO, SPIE, and IEEE Photonics, we celebrate light and all its wonders it brings to our lives. https://www.unesco.org/en/days/lighthttps://spie.org/community-support/international-day-of-light/idl-resourceshttps://www.dayoflight.org/https://www.lightday.org/about Let’s see… we use telescopes to study celestial objects of all sorts. Those telescopes… Read More »Day of Light, Tonight
The three issues of MNRAS (Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society) for May are now out: Volume 539, Issue 1 May 2025Ali-Dib, M. Walton, C. Protoplanetary cores drove chondrule formation P. 127 staf505Anslow, R. J. Bonsor, A. Todd, Z.… Read More »Note, Paper: Bits about Bits