Time for another survey for IRTF (and Keck Observatory) participants. The NASA IRTF (InfraRed Telescope Facility) is the leading source for asteroid follow-up observations, determining spectra and mineralogies for more small bodies than any other. Staff are interested in: -budgets-observing… Read More »IRTF/Keck User Survey
There’s an extra, mid-month Icarus (vol. 432 15 May), stretching from submillimeter to planetary: Whattam, S. A. Predominance of porphyritic textures in chondrules due to density sorting of precursor materials? Constraints from melting experiments Article 116510 .2025.116510Rider-Stokes, B. G.… Read More »Note, Paper: …from little acorns grow…
The launch of the SPHEREx spectrometry mission and PUNCH heliospheric mission, on a single rocket, was successful. All four PUNCHes and SPHEREx deployed from the second stage. SPHEREx, for one, has successfully communicated with the ground; the PUNCH team has… Read More »SPHEREx, PUNCH Up
Before we get to LPSC, there’s a German conference coming up soon: (deep breath) Towards New Frontiers: The Astrochemical Journey from Young Stellar Nurseries to Exoplanets, in Garching, next week. Yes, this is relevant as comets, (most) asteroids, and transition… Read More »Astrochemical New Frontiers Conference
Lots in Icarus for 15 Mar (vol. 429), and this is in a mid-month “extra” issue: Lin, S. Wang, X. Chen, N. Direct solar radiation distribution and driving mechanisms on planetary surfaces – Moon, Mars, Ceres, and Mercury Article 116402 … Read More »Note, Paper: Big-arus
You didn’t think a mini-moon (Temporarily-Captured Flyby, or TCF) would go by uncommented? I generally stay away from citing arXiv, since it’s basically uncontrolled. But the response time for Mini-Moon 2024 PT5 is too short for a refereed journal, so… Read More »Note, Pa-pre: Mini-moon 2024 PT5
The EU-ESA Workshop on Size Determination of Potentially Hazardous Near-Earth Objects continues. For Tuesday, 11/12/24, we continued phase curves, but after that it was thermal infrared observations and polarimetry: https://indico.esa.int/event/530/contributions/ Absolute magnitudes and photometry from the MPC catalog Peter Vereš (Minor… Read More »Workshop: Size Determination of Potentially Hazardous NEOs pt. II
In the October Astronomy and Astrophysics (vol. 690… a big one this month): Wang, Z. Lin, H. Ye, B. et al. Near-infrared spectral behavior of space-weathered olivine with varying iron content A138 10.1051/0004-6361/202450888 Beniyama, J. Sergeyev, A. V. Tholen, D.… Read More »Note, Paper: Albedos and Athor-phys
We’re in an era of infrared astronomy… because we never left. Hot off the ‘presses’ (well, server, actually) is a paper in Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific to continue the field. The modern infrared age was marked… Read More »IRTF time, pt. 2- MIRSI me!
In EPSL (Earth and Planetary Science Letters) for Nov 15 (vol. 646): Onyett, I. J. Schiller, M. Stokholm, M. et al. Silicon isotope compositions of chondritic componen… oart. 118985 .2024.118985 We live on Earth, in the inner Solar System. We… Read More »Note, Paper: Earth and Planetary Science LONG Letter