New Horizons Images Show Fewer Small Kuiper Belt Objects than Expected
High resolution images from New Horizons of the surfaces of Pluto and Charon show ancient craters, but fewer than astronomers expected.
Where’s Lucy Going? Studying Asteroid Mission Targets
Lucy, a new asteroid mission, has begun preparation to target multiple asteroids in the Trojan group near Jupiter for flybys in the late 2020s. Until that date, though, astronomers are busy preparing for the mission and trying to gather all the data on these objects that we can from Earth. Buie et. al. 2018 specifically investigates Leucus and Polymele, using their light curves to tease out information about their color, composition, orbit, and reflectivity.
Sunspots and Space Storms
How do large sunspot groups affect long-term and short-term variations in solar activity?
Astrobites at AAS 233: Day 1
We report on Day 1 of the winter AAS meeting in Seattle, WA. Highlights include a discussion of interstellar asteroid ‘Oumuamua, an overview of first results from TESS, a dragon in the Orion Nebula, and a look at the role identities play in astronomy.
Why is there nothing between Mercury and the Sun?
Ever wonder why there aren’t more planets between Mercury and the Sun? Maybe it’s the Sun’s fault.
Living a (Solar System) Lifetime in Color
What can the colors of Kuiper Belt Objects tell us about how the Solar System formed and evolved?