Again, the American Astronomical Society’s big meeting is about to go on (Jan 4-8), in Phoenix, AZ. https://aas.org/meetings/aas247 Highlights from (effective) day 2, Jan 6: https://submissions.mirasmart.com/AAS247/Itinerary/EventsAAG.aspx See also: Day 1 (ish) Tuesday, January 6 203 – High-Altitude Balloon Astronomy: Instruments,… Read More »AAS Winter 2026 Meeting, Two(sday)
It’s January, time for the big AAS (American Astronomical Society) meeting. This year, it’s in mild and sunny Phoenix, AZ, January 4-8. https://aas.org/meetings/aas247 Of course, the big meeting is themed around… nothing, it’s a general meeting. There’s a separate DPS… Read More »AAS Winter 2026 Meeting, One
‘Breaking’: the Vera Rubin Observatory has announced its results on transient detection S251112cm. First detected Nov. 12 by humanity’s gravitational-wave array(s), Vera Rubin had then pursued any optical counterpart at that general location: gcn.nasa.gov/circulars/43257 Rubin imagery begins at Nov. 14.… Read More »Vera Rubin Update (late-Dec ‘25)
The January Acta Astronautica was divided into Part A and B, don’t ask me why. Now, Part B (vol. 238, Jan 2026): Otsuki, M. Baba, M. Imada, T. et al. Exhaustive evaluation of microgravity landing dynamics for small body exploration Pg 1-12Ye,… Read More »Note, Paper: P-Defense, B
Congratulations to the Vera Rubin Observatory staff, all around, for being named a runner-up for Science magazine’s Breakthrough of the Year, after the boom in renewable energy (i. e., Swanson’s Law): vol. 390 #6779, 18 DecScience’s 2025 Breakthrough of the… Read More »Vera Rubin Up Next For Uprate
Interesting presser from the University of Canterbury, a partner institution with the Vera Rubin Observatory: https://www.canterbury.ac.nz/news-and-events/news/2025/kiwi-team-lead–out-of-this-world–study-of-new-comet17 Dec 2025 Kiwi team lead ‘out of this world’ study of new comet A little human interest and behind-the-scenes for our field. Read about… Read More »ATLAS Staff And Handling
The December issue of Nature Astronomy is out (vol. 9), and: Rehemtulla, N. Coughlin, M. W. Miller, A. A. et al. The automation of optical transient discovery and classification in Rubin-era time-domain astronomy p 1764 s41550-025-02720-6 There is simply no… Read More »Vera Rubin Upload
Time for the Autumn meeting of the AGU (American Geophysical Union). The big meet is in New Orleans, Dec. 15-19: https://www.agu.org/annual-meeting As you might expect from the name “Geophysical”, it mostly deals with the Earth. It deals with the Earth… Read More »2025-Fall AGU Meeting
The “Vera Rubin Observatory” is hiring… a Brit. As part of the UK’s contribution to the effort, one more Community Scientist (CS) job has been identified. The position (half-time so far, better have other projects) entails serving the needs of… Read More »Oi, Vera Rubin Hiring
The mass-market title Astronomy fell off my radar, sorry, but this time we get a COVER STORY (and more)! In the Dec 2025 issue (vol. 53, #12) is: Hyman, Randall p. 16 How we track near-Earth asteroidsChaple, Glenn p. 36… Read More »Astronomy Asteroids (…again)