Another LPSC (Lunar and Planetary Science Conference) has come and gone. While there’s a Japanese and a Euro conference each year, and more recently British and Chinese meetings, let’s put it on the table: LPSC is big, especially since Ryugu… Read More »LPSC Meeting 2024, part 1
Still working on all the results from this year’s Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (55th LPSC), but… “LPI” doesn’t stand for Laugh please, it’s funny. That doesn’t mean astronomers don’t have a sense of humor. Not even astronomers who aren’t… Read More »On The Rocks: LPI Edition…
Wow, what a mother lode in the March issue (vol. 167, #3) of AJ. Transition objects galore: Explicit comets (including high, supervolatile-based activity), Kuiper Belt- and Jupiter Trojan-objects (likely quasi-comets that just don’t warm up enough), and general sky search:… Read More »Note, Paper: Astronomical Journal, pre-Vernal
The journal Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta suffers from being overextended. After all, its domain is from underground, to interstellar space, and back to pre-Solar Nebula/stellar nucleogenesis. But that doesn’t mean stay away, it means pick and choose the small-body-worthy content.… Read More »Note, Paper: We do Ryugu
Icarus, the Solar System Astronomy journal, has some worthy papers as you might expect. First, a holdover from the “March” Icarus issue (vol. 410- not like months are even relevant any more for a virtual “issue”): Kamada, A. Kuroda, T.… Read More »Note, Paper: Icarus and the water
March edition of Cometary Science News (apparently no Feb?) now up. Three papers: luminescence of objects (i. e., UV/IR reemission) including asteroids, and distant-yet-active comets. Luminescence is chemically/compositionally interesting, but for characterization, not search. The Hui et al. paper on… Read More »Cometary Science News, March
Normally, Astrophysical Journal isn’t much of a source on small bodies. The March “issue,” however, has some asteroid/comet research of note, touching upon basic laws of the Solar System: vol. 963 Issue 1 (March 1): Taki, T. Wakita, S. Chondrule… Read More »Note, Paper: Digital Bits on Critical Bits
Lots of energetic events in the “February” issues of MNRAS (Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society). MNRAS 2024 vol. 528 (February), issue 1: Yang, H. Yee, J. C. Hwang, K.-H. Systematic reanalysis of KMTNet microlensing events, paper I:… p.11… Read More »Note, Paper: Bump/Flash/Crash in the night
This isn’t news to anyone already in the loop, but… a Rubin Observatory presser spells it out for those who aren’t. The sky survey by Vera Rubin might as well be a long, heavy asteroid mission: Rubin Observatory will Inspire… Read More »…”Without Ever Leaving the Ground”
Brief observation of non-observation: no small-body works in the Feb. Nature Astronomy (arguably). The Ryugu paper was actually out in late Nov./early Dec, so its label “Feb 2024” is an accounting fluke. As with Science, there’s so much going on… Read More »No-Paper: Nature Astronomy