Andreas Kaufer has been appointed the new Director General of ESO (European Southern Observatory), replacing Xavier Barcons, who had served for ~8 years. Kaufer first joined ESO as the VLT (Very Large Telescope) was in preparation. Now he oversees final… Read More »Drift Into Field, Drift Out of Field (Al Nagler…)
In case you hadn’t already marked your calendar: the Rubin Users Committee will meet on Monday: https://rubinobservatory.org/events/rubin-users-committee-2025a-meeting Rubin Users Committee 2025B Meeting, Oct 27, 8 AM – 10 AM PDT This is your chance to give feedback on initial performance,… Read More »Vera Rubin Users Meeting, Monday
A bit light for this blog, but… ESA has posted an explainer video for the RAMSES mission: www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Videos/2025/10/Ramses_ESA_s_mission_to_rendezvous_with_asteroid_ApophisRamses: ESA’s mission to rendezvous with asteroid Apophis 13/10/2025 This week marks three and a half years until the Apophis flyby of Earth;… Read More »See RAMSES Teaser
In Advances in Space Research, 1 Nov (vol. 76, #9): Chai, J. Mei, J. Gong, Y. et al. Analysis of a conceptual multi-node flexible small body lander: Bounce suppression and active control Pgs 5471 .2025.08.008 Again, landing on an asteroid is,… Read More »Note, Paper: Philae Astray, No Way
The in-depth journal Space Science Reviews (hence, “Review”) scores a hat trick: Cox, M. Cuddy, C. Schneider, J. et al. The Lucy Spacecraft Art 94 s11214-025-01190-6Polanskey, C. A. Elkins-Tanton, L. T. Bell, J. F. et al. Psyche Mission Description and… Read More »Space Sci Review Tri-Flew
Briefly: the PUNCH mission to monitor the Sun states that they are still tracking interstellar object 3I/ATLAS, even though the small body has passed “behind” the Sun (as seen from Earth). In other words, ‘solar conjunction’: bsky.app/profile/kwalsh4a.bsky.social/post/3m2rnxlgigs2v “While 3I Atlas… Read More »PUNCH Sun Conjunction Mention
No, not the singular small body- ATLAS the network of telescopes. Javier Licandro, well-known in small-body/Solar System science, gave a talk last week on ATLAS Teide, the fifth and newest node of the ATLAS network of asteroid-search observatories. This ATLAS… Read More »ATLAS Canarias Expansion, Unpacked
The Japanese space agency (ISAS department) is hosting an open, online meeting on the OPENS mission proposal: www.isas.jaxa.jp/en/researchers/info/004084.htmlSep 17, 2025The First OPENS International Science Workshop (Sep 29-30, 2025/ Full Online) One would think probes to Saturn are beyond all but… Read More »Japanese OPENS Meeting Sep. 29-30
Briefly: there’s a meeting on the Extremely Large Telescope going on right now, the Vienna ELT Science + Simulations Workshop, at the University of Vienna Observatory. https://astarvienna.github.io/websites/ELTWorkshopSept2025.html This is the second Vienna meeting, #2: “Spatial resolution”. (If you aren’t already… Read More »2nd Vienna ELT Meeting
In the current issue of MIT Technology Review (Sep/Oct, vol. 128 #5): Tereza Pultarova p. 12 Job titles of the future: Satellite Streak AstronomerRobin George Andrews p. 42 Inside the hunt for the most dangerous asteroid ever Yes, we have… Read More »MIT Tech Review Times Two