Hot on the heels of the last apparent comet discovery: http://www.cbat.eps.harvard.edu/iau/cbet/005600/CBET005648.txt We have multiple reports of an object with a coma and/or tail- therefore indicating activity, therefore indicating a comet. Except this “comet” orbits, to the precision of our measurements… Read More »*NEW* : Main-Belt Comet P/2025 W4 (Pan-STARRS)
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
Just out from the Science media family: Science vol. 390 #6778, December 2025Robin George Andrews, 11 Dec 2025 Planet Protector science.zolm8st Sarah Crespi, Elah Feder, Robin George Andrews 11 Dec 2025 Hunting asteroids from space, and talking to pollinators with… Read More »NEO Surveyor We Cover
There’s a mid-month (15 January 2026, vol. 444) Icarus: Rosenbush, V. Kleshchonok, V. Ivanova, O. et al. A comprehensive study of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in the 2021/2022 apparition. I. Photometry, spectroscopy, mor… Art 116799 .2025.116799Benson, C. I. Scheeres, D. J. The… Read More »Note, Paper: Moving-Object Boogie
Just discovered November (while we were feasting): a new Main-Belt comet. A typical comet comes out of the outer Solar System, then warms and activates when it reaches the inner Solar System. Not Main-Belters. These “comets” reside in the asteroid… Read More »*NEW* : Main-Belt Comet 2025 W3 (Kresken)
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)
The Vera Rubin Observatory is organizing a themed meeting this week: https://sites.google.com/view/lsstlatam2025/home This meeting is to coordinate and promote data users in Latin America, and I don’t mean just Chile. https://sites.google.com/view/lsstlatam2025/program Opening Remarks9:30 – 10:00 Rubin Plenary: Robert Blum (Rubin,… Read More »LSST@LATAM Meeting
Wow, what an Astronomy Journal (AJ) for Dec (vol. 170 #6): Willacy, K. Majumdar, L. Bonev, B. et al. The Interstellar Heritage of Comets Art 312 ae0caeHou, X. Tan, P. Liu, X. et al. Influence of Planetary Flyby Events on… Read More »Note, Paper: Pix by Pix, Fly by Fly…
The Vera Rubin Observatory is built, and preparing to start its Legacy Survey of Space and Time. These preparations, with early trials looking okay, are mainly fine tuning of optical parameters and data processes. But there’s a non-main process: targets… Read More »Vera Rubin Update (Nov)
Now out in New Scientist, vol. 268 #3569: Richard Binzel, 15 November 2025 “We don’t want to keep an asteroid secret, because then no one ever trusts you” p. 38 This week’s interview is with astronomer Richard (Rick) Binzel, well-known… Read More »NEO-Binzel New-Interview