Astrophysical: Small solar system bodies

  • Publication
    A Candidate Location for Planet Nine from an Interstellar Meteoroid: The Messenger Hypothesis

    The existence of a hypothetical Planet Nine lurking in the outer solar system has been invoked as a plausible explanation for the anomalous clustering in the...

  • Publication
    Apophis Planetary Defense Campaign

    We describe results of a planetary defense exercise conducted during the close approach to Earth by the near-Earth asteroid (99942) Apophis during 2020 December...

  • News
    Astronomers confirm a new “Trojan” asteroid that shares an orbit with Mars

    Using observations made with the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC) a study led from the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) and the Universidad Complutense...

  • Publication
    Detection of the Irregular Shape of the Southern Limb of Menoetius from Observations of the 2017-2018 Patroclus-Menoetius Mutual Events

    This work presents the analysis of seven mutual events of the Patroclus-Menoetius system (PMS) observed during the last season of mutual events, in 2017-2018...

  • News
    Nailing Bennu's colors to the mast: new findings on the origin of this primitive body

    Science magazine, in a special collection on asteroid Bennu, has published the results of the analysis of photometric-spectrum color variations on the surface...

  • Publication
    Opposition Observations of 162173 Ryugu: Normal Albedo Map Highlights Variations in Regolith Characteristics

    On 2019 January 8, the Telescopic Optical Navigation Camera (ONC-T) on board the Hayabusa2 spacecraft observed the Cb-type asteroid 162173 Ryugu under near...

  • Publication
    Photometry of the Didymos System across the DART Impact Apparition

    On 2022 September 26, the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft impacted Dimorphos, the satellite of binary near-Earth asteroid (65803) Didymos...

  • Publication
    Synchronous Rotation in the (136199) Eris-Dysnomia System

    We combine photometry of Eris from a 6 month campaign on the Palomar 60 inch telescope in 2015, a 1 month Hubble Space Telescope WFC3 campaign in 2018, and Dark...

  • Publication
    The Changing Rotational Light-curve Amplitude of Varuna and Evidence for a Close-in Satellite

    From CCD observations carried out with different telescopes, we present short-term photometric measurements of the large trans-Neptunian object Varuna in 10...