The (formerly threatening) asteroid Apophis will make its (safe) pass by the Earth on April 13, 2029. (No coincidence, the UN has also declared 2029 to be the Year of Planetary Defense.) That means four years to prepare scientific observations,… Read More »Apophis T-4 Years Meeting
…and speaking of good publicity: The Vera Rubin Observatory staff describe good installation of its LSSTCam onto the telescope. This major event (all large parts are now integrated) was well-documented, as one might expect. Coverage of the assembly, and even… Read More »Vera Rubin Update (Apr 2025)
Yes, I know I just posted on new entries from RNAA (Research Notes of the AAS). The newest Notes include a report of the James Webb Space Telescope getting time to spot asteroid 2024 YR4, which was initially tracked to… Read More »Note Note: JWST Studies 2024 YR4
No foolin’- let’s keep up with Astronomical Journal, for April (vol. 169, #4)- both Open Access: Tang, Y. Jiang, Y. Feng, Y. et al. Transformer-based Approach for Accurate Asteroid Spectra Taxonomy and Albedo Estimation 201 adb710 Wilson, T. C. Silber,… Read More »Note, Paper: Ace the Tests
Interesting, to say the least, issue of RNAA (Research Notes Of The AAS) for March vol. 9 #3 (all of these papers are OPEN): Dvorak, R. Cuntz, M. On the Stability of Retrograde Orbits Between Jupiter and Saturn 46 … Read More »Note, Paper: Identified Flying Objects
Getting a bit deep in Planetary And Space Science for April (vol. 258): Alves, A. A. Carruba, V. Delfino, E. M. D. S. et al. Deep learning identification of asteroids interacting with g-s secular resonances Art 106062 .2025.106062Quan, R. H.… Read More »Note, Paper: Deep on the Shallow
Always the possibility of last minute additions, but… wow, what an Astronomy & Astrophysics for March (vol. 695) (so far): Borovička, J. Spurný, P. Kotková, L. et al. The structure of κ Cygnid and August Draconid meteoroid streams A83 202453552 Fatka,… Read More »Note, Paper: Impacts, Done and Coming
A little light listening for your weekend: the new episode of Startalk ‘radio’ (actually a podcast) will feature Rick Binzel as their guest. Startalk Radio is the podcast of Neil DeGrasse Tyson, director of the Hayden Planetarium, and a comedian… Read More »Star(-like) Talk with guest Rick Binzel
There was a 15 Mar issue of Icarus, so maybe that’s why April (vol. 430) is a bit light: Bettati, A. Lunine, J. Atmospheric escape explains diverse surface compositions of Pluto vs Sedna Article 116482 .2025.116482Hamm, M. Strauß, M. Grott,… Read More »Note, Paper: Losing the marble
…and speaking of pieces. The 11th Dust Workshop is going on now (18-20 Mar 2025, Venice, IT). The “11th” refers to 2015, due to the Rosetta mission to Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. While it’s true that Rosetta advanced comet studies far beyond… Read More »Dust Workshop 2025