Hubble Space Telescope update at #SBAG:
- With 2 gyro operations, about 50% of the sky is observable at any given time.
- Budget pressure and uncertainties are not great.
- Reentry projections are currently for mid-2033, with large uncertainties. It will be the end of an era.
Hayabusa 2# update at #SBAG:
The spacecraft is in cruise phase and on track for flying by the asteroid 2001 CC21 in 2026 July.
It has had software updates for onboard self-navigation; to permit a closer flyby. These are being tested by observing Ceres and other objects en route.
@VRubinObs commissioning update at #SBAG:
Asteroid linking is working on the commission test fields and commissioning data release is pending.
It is finally happening.
#TeamRadar presentations at #SBAG 32:
Aaron DeLeon describes the unusual binary asteroid system Atira: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/PSJ/ad7814
Patrick Taylor gives an update on the ngRADAR project at Green Bank: https://ngradar.nrao.edu/
There is quite a lot of talking around the pending threats of Donald Trump and those with him at this #SBAG workshop; with more direct mentions in question sessions.
There is also a lot of "call your members of Congress".
The NASA Small Bodies Assessment Group is meeting this week: https://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/sbagjan2025/technical_program/
Among other #SBAG presentations:
Amanda Hendrix discussed the recent NASA facilities review.
Either NASA's budget is increased; or new projects & missions are deferred; or the agency risks a crisis by continuing to defer necessary maintenance & upgrades of facilities.
Particularly highlighted: The Deep Space Network.
Also featured at #SBAG today:
Hopkins, @astrokiwi , and Lintott 2024, "Predicting Interstellar Object Chemodynamics with Gaia" - https://arxiv.org/abs/2402.04904
With predictions for @VRubinObs .
The interstellar object population of the Milky Way is a product of its stars. However, what is in fact a complex structure in the Solar neighbourhood has traditionally in ISO studies been described as smoothly distributed. Using a debiased stellar population derived from the Gaia DR3 stellar sample, we predict that the velocity distribution of ISOs is far more textured than a smooth Gaussian. The moving groups caused by Galactic resonances dominate the distribution. 1I/`Oumuamua and 2I/Borisov have entirely normal places within these distributions; 1I is within the non-coeval moving group that includes the Matariki (Pleiades) cluster, and 2I within the Coma Berenices moving group. We show that for the composition of planetesimals formed beyond the ice line, these velocity structures also have a chemodynamic component. This variation will be visible on the sky. We predict that this richly textured distribution will be differentiable from smooth Gaussians in samples that are within the expected discovery capacity of the Vera C. Rubin Observatory. Solar neighbourhood ISOs will be of all ages and come from a dynamic mix of many different populations of stars, reflecting their origins from all around the Galactic disk.
Marin Ferrais, postdoc with #TeamRadar at UCF, described shape modeling of the binary near-Earth asteroid #1994AW1 using archival radar images at #SBAG today.
There is still quite a lot of new science to be done based on data from the #AreciboTelescope .
NASA management also promotes #TeamRadar at #SBAG , highlighting the #2011UL21 and #2024MK observations two weeks ago: https://echo.jpl.nasa.gov/asteroids/june2024.goldstone.planning.html
Thank you again, management.
Michael Busch
Dr. Nick Attree