…see Day 1, Day 2, Day 3 And now on Day 4 of the PDC, we get to the dramatic, unlikely (and hopefully never likely in our era) part of planetary defense: mitigation. That’s action taken when the impactor has… Read More »2025 Planetary Defense Conference, Day 4
…see Day 1, Day 2 Now, in Day 3, we get into the telescopes (and one antenna) for both detection and tracking: Session 4: Near-Earth Object (NEO) DiscoveryThe Pan-STARRS Search for Near-Earth Objects: 10+ Years old and going strong… Read More »2025 Planetary Defense Conference, Day 3
…see Day 1 The last post was the first day of a big, multi-day conference: lots of pleasantries and generalities. Here now we get into some real meat of the matter. Session 1: Hypothetical Threat Exercise Technical SessionThe international… Read More »2025 Planetary Defense Conference, Day 2
The IAA’s Planetary Defense Conference for 2025 (every odd year) is now going on in Stellenbosch (basically Cape Town), South Africa. No, I am not attending, and …arrg, the program still says “preliminary.” Well, for what it’s worth, here’s the… Read More »2025 Planetary Defense Conference, Day 1
In the Astrophysical Journal Letters issue for May 1 (vol. 984 #1) : Bolin, B. T. Hanuš, J. Denneau, L. et al. The Discovery and Characterization of Earth-crossing Asteroid 2024 YR4 L25 adc910 It’s here: the paper summing up… Read More »2024 YR4: Spill, You
There’s a new paper in Space Science Reviews (vol. 221), and yes, it’s a review: long and detailed. Pätzold, M., Andert, T.P., Cardesín-Moinelo, A. et al. Investigations of the Moon Phobos by Mars Express and Implications Towards Its Origin. art… Read More »Note, Paper: No Fear? More Phobos
The 2025 meeting of the European Geosciences Union has occurred. And yes, there was relevant content in a geophysics conference. Small bodies are subject to physical laws too: https://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU25/meetingprogramme Monday, 28 AprilTue, 29 AprWed, 30 AprThu, 01 MayFri, 02 May… Read More »EGU General Assembly 2025
Look, a paper in Journal Of Geophysical Research: Planets (vol. 130, #4) for a change: Maurel, C. Clavé, E. Gattacecca, J. et al. Magnetization of Iron Meteorites up to the Meter in Size as Possible Analogs for Asteroid Psyche 2024JE008810… Read More »Note, Paper: Metal Speculation
It may seem a bit early for the July Journal of Astronomical Telescopes Instruments and Systems (vol. 11 issue 3)- it’s ‘in progress’. But considering the next (October) issue is already being served on the site, I’m going to go… Read More »Note, Paper: Water-Rich Print
Early-2025 activity on the mountaintop was largely removing ComCam, and integrating the final LSSTCam onto the telescope. Per my last update, that camera change has happened; time for another post. As observing is getting closer and closer, so too will… Read More »Vera Rubin Update (LATE-April 2025)