I have neglected the journal Acta Astronautica, despite March (vol. 216) being a good month: Casanova-Álvarez, M. Navarro-Medina, F. Tommasini, D. Feasibility study of a Solar Elect… p. 129 .2024.01.001 Zhang, Z. Yu, M. Ali, M. R. et al. Investigation on… Read More »Note, Paper: Zap!
Coverage of Jupiter Trojan objects by Space Science Reviews (an ongoing Special “Issue”) continues: Emery, J. P. Binzel, R. P. Wong, I. Surface Compositions of Trojan Asteroids a28 01060-7 Mottola, S. Britt, D. T. Brown, M. E. et al. Shapes,… Read More »Note, Paper: March, WITH the Trojans
The March issue of Astronomy and Astrophysics (vol. 683, Mar. 24) is a little light. Two small-body articles are roughly typical of that journal. Galinier, M. Delbo, M. Avdellidou, C. et al. Discovery of the first olivine-dominated A-type… p. L3… Read More »Note, Paper: A & A assay
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
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”
This month’s Astronomy and Astrophysics is… an improvement (for us here) compared to Jan, but it’s no Dec: Edberg, N. J. T. Erikkson, A. I. Vigren, E. et al. Scale size of cometary bow shocks A51 /202346566 Bourchelle de Micas,… Read More »Note, Paper: Euro-Yarko
Unlike last month, the January Astronomy and Astrophysics (vol. 681) is a little light: de la Fuente Marcos, R. de la Fuente Marcos, C. When the horseshoe fits: Characterizing 2023 FY3… A4 10.1051/0004-6361/202347663 Vokrouhlický, D. Nesvorný, D. Brož, M. Debiased… Read More »Note, paper: …to look back at Jan
Taking a look at the boards- we have an object of some interest in Earth’s vicinity for the next few weeks.
2023 YO1, an Apollo-type NEO, was discovered at the tail end of 2023 (as its designation suggests). It just passed Earth Closest Approach (Jan. 10) of ~2,600,000 km (nothing unusual), and will be in our immediate vicinity til ~Jan 21. This fairly long pass (~Earth month) is no fluke: 2023 YO1 has a slow (Earth-relative) velocity, due to its Earthlike orbit. In turn, this close orbit (including relatively low inclination, 4.4 deg.) makes it an accessible object. The mission ∆v is, for the flight trajectories put out so far, ~4.12 km/s. This is not only quite low- among the handful of lowest asteroid flights on our tables. But, like many NEO trips being put on the tables- it’s less energetic than a lander to Earth’s moon. Certainly a soft (powered, necessarily) lander, and lower in ∆v than a hard lander.Read More »Potentially Halcyon Object: 2023 YO1