Now an asteroid: the small body temporarily designated 2005 YQ29 is, officially, (335500) Espresso, per the IAU Small-Body Nomenclature Group. That’s right, the drink originating in Italy. Perk up for the workweek!
In this biweek’s IAU WGSBN Bulletin (#2413), good news and ‘bad’ news. The asteroid, formerly under the provisional designation (2001) CC21, has now been officially named. The small body is now one of the targets of the Hayabusa2 extended mission… Read More »On The Rocks: The Sacred to the Profane
From this year’s big annual conference of the Meteoritical Society, 2024 (metsoc2024.brussels): Fri Aug 2, 2024 1:30 PM Session: Extraterrestrial Material 2: Curation, Classification, and Historical Importance … 6339 Upgraded Nuclear Resonance Beamline ID14 at ESRF, the Mössbauer Spectroscopy with… Read More »On The Rocks: Meteorite ….wha?
This ~month’s Bulletin on Small Bodies Nomenclature from the IAU lists new asteroid name (270588) Laurieanderson. The “Mars crosser” (technically only), formerly 2002 LA6, is now named for musician and multimedia artist Laurie Anderson, whose resume makes the rest of… Read More »On The Rocks: Strange Angels
Still working on all the results from this year’s Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (55th LPSC), but… “LPI” doesn’t stand for Laugh please, it’s funny. That doesn’t mean astronomers don’t have a sense of humor. Not even astronomers who aren’t… Read More »On The Rocks: LPI Edition…
Happy Friday. The latest IAU nomenclature bulletin (vol. 4, #2) now makes it official. The main-belt asteroid- formerly under a temporary designation 1981 ET27- is now officially, permanently numbered and named. It is now (12994) Pitufo. The low number indicates… Read More »On The Rocks: Oros Trozos
Happy weekend. The January issue of Photonics Spectra happens to touch upon two aspects of small-body science; we’re becoming inescapable. Jérémy Picot-Clémente (Photonics Paves a Path to the Emerging New Space Sector, p. 80), notes how, in multiple photonic-relevant ways,… Read More »On The Rocks: See Spot Orbit. Spot Likes to Orbit!
Happy Saturday. In weekend news, congratulations to Adam McKay, director of Don’t Look Up, and now honored by the official naming of the provisional 2005 AM26, now (227033) Adamjmckay. Let’s all lift up our glasses to McKay, the WGSBN, the… Read More »On The Rocks: (227033)(formerly known as AM26)