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