The call is out for the 2026 Schweickart Prize. The Prize awards the best new student idea in planetary defense, and related asteroid studies. CALL FOR STUDENT PROPOSALS: 2026 SCHWEICKART PRIZEhttps://www.schweickartprize.org/ Deadline: February 4, 2026. Information webinars with live Q&A… Read More »Call for 2026 Schweickart Prize
The purpose of the Roman Space Telescope- if you could boil it down to one- would be cosmology, not small-body science. Yet a wide field of view- at high sensitivity and small pixels- will inherently catch asteroids/comets, without even trying.… Read More »Roman Space Telescope Call(s)
The Winter 2025 meeting of the AAS (American Astronomical Society), Jan 4-8, Phoenix, AZ, concludes soon: https://aas.org/meetings/aas247 Again, my cull of small-body-relevant agenda items. Most of the meeting is general astronomy, not small bodies or Solar System items: https://submissions.mirasmart.com/AAS247/Itinerary/EventsAAG.aspx See… Read More »AAS Winter 2026 Meeting, Three
‘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 December 2025 Astronomy & Astrophysics (vol. 704) still says “in progress”, but January is already being trickled out. So I’m going to call it for December, and what a month: Peña-Asensio, E. Seligman, D. Z. The interstellar flux gap:… Read More »Note, Paper: Year-End Bender (Pending?)
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
Delving into development and policy now: Astrophysics > Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics arxiv.org/abs/2512.14785[Submitted on 16 Dec 2025]de León, J. Pinilla-Alonso, N. Tanga, P. et al. Why the Northern Hemisphere Needs a 30-40m Telescope and the Science at Stake: from… Read More »Boreal Big-Bore Resource Implored
Condolences to family, friends, and coworkers of Yannick Mellier, top scientist for the Euclid mission: https://www.euclid-ec.org/yannick-mellier-1958-2025/Yannick Mellier, 1958-2025 It’s easy to forget these are not merely glass-and-carbon-fiber machines. These are the works of people, living, breathing people. It takes the… Read More »Sweeping the Heavens, Meeting the Heavens (Yannick Mellier)
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