Referencing Taylor et al. 2024: Aug 7 Jonathan O’Callaghan The mysterious ‘dark comets’ prowling our Solar Systemwww.bbc.com/future/article/20250807-a-japanese-spacecraft-is-racing-toward-a-mysterious-dark-comet-to-discover-the-secrets-it-holds The BBC- usually pretty good on technical topics- has a nice writeup of our current state in “dark comets”- asteroids that show nongravitational… Read More »Dark “Comet”… Part Trois
Early images aside, the commissioning and honing of the Vera C. Rubin Observatory continues. The project states that most things are coming along nicely, except the Atacama weather- observing had to stop due to the Austral Winter not cooperating. Oh… Read More »Vera Rubin Update (Aug 2025)
The Rubin Observatory Community Workshop 2025 continues, all week. Its program: https://project.lsst.org/meetings/rubin2025/program/agenda (see also Pt. 1) The observatory and project staff (not all on the mountaintop, or even Chile + US) are gathering for a head-to-head on the program and… Read More »Rubin Community Workshop 2025- Pt. 2
More interstellar-object coverage, not necessarily peer-reviewed science output, but more substantial than just lay prose: www.gemini.edu/news/press-releases/noirlab2522July 15, 2025 Josie Fenske Gemini North Observes Comet 3I/ATLAS www.scientificamerican.com/article/new-interstellar-object-3i-atlass-biggest-mysteries-explained/July 16, 2025 Jonathan O’Callaghan 7 Big Mysteries about Interstellar Object 3I/ATLAS Apologies for the… Read More »3I/ATLAS: Small-Body Copy
Since we’re talking about an object penetrating our Solar System from other parts of the galaxy, it was inevitable that this would draw wider media coverage. That coverage: www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HeTCmtNJSUJul 3, 2025 Scott Manley We Just Discovered The Fastest Interstellar Comet… Read More »3I/ATLAS Patch
Just in at Science magazine: the rush to observe interstellar object 3I/ATLAS. https://www.science.org/content/article/astronomers-race-study-interstellar-interloper11 Jul 2025 Adam Mann Astronomers race to study interstellar interloper z1ju4jb We have a few brief months to study this example of material from another system. In… Read More »3I/ATLAS Wrangling
The coverage and hoopla around the Vera C. Rubin Observatory have died down a bit. Mentioned briefly in the First Look Event was the Skyviewer “app” (actually an interactive website, skyviewer.app), which includes a sonification tool (Skysynth). This site/app allows… Read More »Vera Rubin Uploading
The University of Hawaii announced on Friday that the UKIRT telescope on Maunakea is, officially, to be decommissioned: https://www.hawaii.edu/news/2025/06/27/uh-to-decommission-3rd-maunakea-telescope/ UKIRT once stood for “United Kingdom InfraRed Telescope.” Which may have you thinking, “wait- why is the University of Hawaii telling… Read More »Infrared Telescope ‘Insolvent’
Okay, one more Rubin Observatory post: gizmodo.com/rubin-observatorys-stunning-result-proves-its-a-game-changer-for-spotting-dangerous-asteroids-2000621581 I’ve already posted that the Vera Rubin Observatory will be– and now demonstrates it is– the new and undisputed champion of asteroid discovery. Let the conspiracy theory nuts take heed: NASA is not… Read More »Vera Rubin Upstanding
2024 YR4 aside (no, it will NOT kill you), we should give asteroids their proper due. Asteroids are clues left over from the early Solar System, and contain presolar grains (crystals that predate the Sun and planets). Asteroids (the NEOs-… Read More »Happy Asteroid Day!