The (formerly threatening) asteroid Apophis will make its (safe) pass by the Earth on April 13, 2029. (No coincidence, the UN has also declared 2029 to be the Year of Planetary Defense.) That means four years to prepare scientific observations,… Read More »Apophis T-4 Years Meeting
…and speaking of good publicity: The Vera Rubin Observatory staff describe good installation of its LSSTCam onto the telescope. This major event (all large parts are now integrated) was well-documented, as one might expect. Coverage of the assembly, and even… Read More »Vera Rubin Update (Apr 2025)
I wrote previously (twice and thrice) on the Japanese COIAS Program (Come On! Impacting ASteroids) and its connection to the manga/TV show Asteroid in Love (Japanese: Koisuru Asteroido, abbreviated Koi As). More recognition: comet C/2015 K7 is now named COIAS.… Read More »…COIAS Continued Continued…
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
This is 100% serious. Congratulations to Drs. Glaze and Steinbring: The IAU Working Group on Small Bodies Nomenclature (WGSBN)’s Bulletin 5 issue 4 (Mar 17) (https://www.wgsbn-iau.org/files/Bulletins/V005/WGSBNBull_V005_004.pdf) has announced two asteroids: (236617) Loriglaze = 2006 JL63Discovery: 2006-05-01 / M. W. Buie… Read More »‘Few New Names
A little light listening for your weekend: the new episode of Startalk ‘radio’ (actually a podcast) will feature Rick Binzel as their guest. Startalk Radio is the podcast of Neil DeGrasse Tyson, director of the Hayden Planetarium, and a comedian… Read More »Star(-like) Talk with guest Rick Binzel
Just saw this one, sorry I’m a bit slow on the ‘regurgitate’ button: The asteroid Bennu is even weirder than we thoughthttps://www.newscientist.com/article/2471749-the-asteroid-bennu-is-even-weirder-than-we-thought/
And now for something pedagogically different. In Space Science Reviews, dated 12 March (they’re all-online, no issues at all): Boonstra, S. K. Kretke, K. Garcia, D. et al. Technical STEM Workforce Development Re-Imagined: The Lucy Student Pipeline and Competency Enabler… Read More »Note, Pupils: Lucy L’SPACE Program
There’s (about to be) a new journal in the Solar System Science domain: Planetary Research. And it’s quite an intriguing lede. According to organizers, they can hold their costs down, and run an open title, without even authors’ fees. Have… Read More »New Note: Planetary Research
The launch of the Odin asteroid mission, from AstroForge, was successful. Unfortunately, that’s about the only thing we can say for sure just yet. Separation occurred, and the probe appears to be powered and transmitting, but no useful radio link… Read More »AstroForge Odin OK?