It’s official and it’s named. The object, provisionally designated A11pl3Z, showed ‘fuzziness’ (nebulosity, likely from activity) and was then given the comet designation C/2025 N1. Official discovery credit goes to the ATLAS network, Chile site (Rio Hurtado)- hence, the third designation.… Read More »Interstellar Object 3I/ATLAS
Time to revisit Planetary Science Journal and its latest papers: Kareta, T. Schambeau, C. A. Firgard, M. et al. Activity-induced Near-infrared Spectral Variability at 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 1, 2017-2022 119 adce07Diotte, F. Lemelin, M. Doucet, F. R. et al. Laser-induced Breakdown… Read More »Note, Paper: Plan Cat?
Commissioning of systems on the Vera Rubin Observatory continues. Tuning of the active optics systems (NOT adaptive optics) continues. This past week, both Alpha Centauri and Earth’s natural satellite became visible. These bright objects served as crude calibrators, allowing tests… Read More »Vera Rubin Update (Mid-May 2025)
…see Day 1, Day 2 Now, in Day 3, we get into the telescopes (and one antenna) for both detection and tracking: Session 4: Near-Earth Object (NEO) DiscoveryThe Pan-STARRS Search for Near-Earth Objects: 10+ Years old and going strong… Read More »2025 Planetary Defense Conference, Day 3
In the Astrophysical Journal Letters issue for May 1 (vol. 984 #1) : Bolin, B. T. Hanuš, J. Denneau, L. et al. The Discovery and Characterization of Earth-crossing Asteroid 2024 YR4 L25 adc910 It’s here: the paper summing up… Read More »2024 YR4: Spill, You
Two papers to report in the May issue of New Astronomy (vol. 116): Agbogidi, B. R. Vincent, A. E. Afere, B. A. E. et al. Equilibrium points in the perturbed rotating mass dipole system with oblateness art. 102344 .2024.102344Wang, N.… Read More »Note, Paper: Slew Astronomy
Not one but two articles in the BBC today: 4 April 2025 Nelson, S. Asteroid 2024 YR4: Where do near-Earth asteroids come from – and what can we learn form them? (sic) www.bbc.com/future/article/20250312-the-astronomers-watching-the-skies-for-asteroids Molloy, M. Chance of asteroid hitting Moon… Read More »BBC: (small-)Body Bi-Coverage
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