We go meta. As our interstellar guest scoots through the inner Solar System, a journalist interviews guest scientists: www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-interplanetary-race-to-study-interstellar-comet-3i-atlas/Meghan Bartels, Oct 31 2025 The Interplanetary Race to Study Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS Pretty accurate. Not much hard sci, but more of… Read More »3I Scientists Plied
Don’t dismiss the Canadian space effort, official or unofficial. The website New Space Economy is… not above leading headlines and trolling questions, but otherwise it’s a fairly informed and up-to-date operation. Up to last week: newspaceeconomy.ca/2025/10/29/a-history-of-planetary-defense/-, Oct. 29 A History of… Read More »“History of Planetary Defense” Post
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…)
This week’s Science (23 Oct 2025, vol. 390, #6771) proudly features: Andy Lawrence, Interstellar visitors: Smoking and nonsmoking aec2085 Not only was this editorial commissioned by the title (the flagship title of the Science family), but it was blurbed prominently… Read More »Billions and Billions of… Not-Stars
No less than Nature (actually Nature Astronomy, still within the Nature family) states: -, Big realities for small bodies 1407 s41550-025-02701-9 Couldn’t have put it better myself. This is an editorial introduction to the October issue (vol. 9), in which… Read More »“Big Realities for Small Bodies”
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
Still time to apply for the Schweickart Prize. For early-career workers in planetary defense, there’s a nice award, with money: UPCOMING SCHWEICKART PRIZE STUDENT WEBINARS ON OCTOBER 15 & 16 “The winner will receive a $10,000 USD cash award, a… Read More »Schweickart Prize Online Guide Next Week
Not news, but ESA’s Hera mission to Didymos/Dimorphos after the DART impact has launched and is on track. Based on good performances from all propulsion systems, mission managers expect to encounter the target asteroids earlier than first planned. Arrival is… Read More »Hera Update, Oct 2025
In the current (4 Oct) issue of New Scientist: www.newscientist.com/article/2498319-nasas-asteroid-deflection-test-had-unexpected-and-puzzling-outcome/Alex Wilkins 1 October 2025 NASA’s asteroid deflection test had unexpected and puzzling outcome As one might expect from New Scientist, this is an accessible take on a scientific work. The… Read More »Dimorphos Debris Motion
Referencing the recent Courville et al. 2025 (“Core metamorphism controls the dynamic habitability of mid-sized ocean worlds—The case of Ceres”): The SETI Live podcast by the SETI Institute will record an episode October 2, 2025, at 2:30 pm PDT. In… Read More »Courville Clement Ceres: The Podcast