"Pluto is geologically interesting and is still a planet in my book."

That's fine. I agree that it's very interesting! (Of course, I love every object in the Minor Planet Center's database equally, so I'm probably an outlier on this front. #BetterKnowAnAsteroid)

NASA’s DART Mission Changed Orbit of Asteroid Didymos Around Sun The spacecraft changed the binary system’s orbit, confirming that a kinetic impactor can be an effective planetary defense technique for deflecting a near-Earth object.

More #BetterKnowAnAsteroid news: the DART mission alerted the orbital period of the whole Didymos-Dimorphos system around the Sun by... wait for it... 0.15 seconds.

The much larger change to the orbital period of Dimorphos was the primary goal, and this was an added effect from the ejecta produced.

Asteroid 2024 YR4 will not impact the Moon Last year, an approximately 60 metre near-Earth object captured global attention. For a brief period, asteroid 2024 YR4 became the most dangerous asteroid discovered in the last 20 years. While an Ear...

There's so little joy in our world these days, and now, there is even less. #BetterKnowAnAsteroid

Very excited to see what this #BetterKnowAnAsteroid mission can do, and if anyone is wondering what's on my Christmas list, that unofficial patch just rocketed to a spot near the top

Scientists find evidence that an asteroid contains tryptophan | CNN An essential amino acid that is mistakenly believed to cause drowsiness after eating turkey has been found in an asteroid for the first time, giving scientists clues to the origin of life on Earth.

Now that's what I call seasonal #BetterKnowAnAsteroid content

The image is a diagram of the solar system, with the Sun at the center and the orbits of the major planets drawn around in a blueish color. The image has a black background, but most of that is hidden by a depiction of the 40,000 near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) known to exist in the solar system, each shown as a small white dot. Most of the space inside the orbit of Mercury is clear of asteroids, but they increase in density pretty quickly the further you look from the Sun. Because this graphic is limited to NEAs, they appear most frequently close to Earth's orbit. But because many NEAs have elliptical orbits, a lot of them also wander out into the main belt. So honestly, you don't see another planet's orbit until Jupiter, arcing across the top of the image.

I had a few other things to check today, and didn't get around to color-coding the different dynamical groups (but does the average museum visitor care?). Behold, a bit more than 40,000 near-Earth asteroids!
#BetterKnowAnAsteroid

Sounds like a reason to update all of the planetarium's NEA data files #BetterKnowAnAsteroid

Against a black background, the Sun appears as a small glowing orb in the distance near the center of the image. The orbits of the planets are drawn around it, with the orbits of inner rocky planets huddled close to the Sun, and the larger orbit of Jupiter extending across about half the width of the image. A bit of Saturn's orbit is visible at the top of the frame too. Cutting in from the lower left is a read line that extendds just inside the orbit of Jupiter, and is labeled "A11pl3Z". A fainter red line showing the object's future path extends across the solar system, cutting just inside the orbit of Mars and then back out, never to return.

Happened to catch last night's chatter about #A11pl3Z, seemingly the third interstellar object found visiting the solar system, and added its trajectory into our planetarium software—I also uploaded it to a cloud server so that other users had immediate access. #BetterKnowAnAsteroid

In early May from Earth, these asteroids would've appeared right in front of the Virgo Cluster, which fits the Observatory's timeline. The number of objects doesn't match precisely (I'm missing a handful of the claimed discoveries) but it was a good preview of what to expect #BetterKnowAnAsteroid

A video of two spiral galaxies set against a mostly black background that's peppered with innumerable smaller and more distant galaxies in a variety of colors. Just right of center is a large spiral galaxy appearing in shades of white, yellow, and blue. Near the top left corner is a smaller, bluer spiral galaxy. Scattered across the image are multicolored lines of dots, red on one end, green in the middle, and blue on the other end. These are asteroids, captured in different locations as the telescope took multiple exposures through different filters.

A close-up of an asteroid track in the Rubin Observatory First Look imagery. Innumerable galaxies are scattered across the black background. Near the center of this image, there are two red streaks just to the left of four green streaks, with a few blue steaks lined up on the right. All of these streaks are in a straight line. They show an asteroid's motion through the telescope's field of view across multiple observations taken through different filters.

Sure, the images are great, but my takeaway from the @vrubinobs.bsky.social #RubinFirstLook is the 2,104 asteroid discoveries in just 10 hours of observations.

Almost instantly, Rubin Observatory has become the 17th most prolific asteroid discoverer ever (out of over 2,000). #BetterKnowAnAsteroid

NASA’s Webb Observations Update Asteroid 2024 YR4’s Lunar Impact Odds - NASA Science While asteroid 2024 YR4 is currently too distant to detect with telescopes from Earth, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope collected one more observation of the

Still a chance for an asteroid to hit the Moon in 2032. 🤞
#BetterKnowAnAsteroid

A critical step in #BetterKnowAnAsteroid is having the facilities that allow you to get to know the asteroid better. So slashing science budgets indiscriminately isn't good

China to launch the Tianwen-2 asteroid sample return mission - NASASpaceFlight.com The Chinese space program is preparing to join the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and…

It seems that a new #BetterKnowAnAsteroid mission is launching today, as China's Tianwen-2 sets off towards Kamo‘oalewa. This asteroid is a quasi-satellite of Earth, and possibly a piece of lunar ejecta. Will be interesting to see that theory tested by this visit!

I also urge NASA to launch a bonus #BetterKnowAnAsteroid mission, but I'm just some guy on the internet

#BetterKnowAnAsteroid

👀 #BetterKnowAnAsteroid

NASA’s Lucy Spacecraft Images Asteroid Donaldjohanson - NASA Science In its second asteroid encounter, NASA’s Lucy spacecraft obtained a close look at a uniquely shaped fragment of an asteroid that formed about 150 million

Look at this weird little space rock. I think it's great. #BetterKnowAnAsteroid

#BetterKnowAnAsteroid

NASA’s Lucy Days Away from Asteroid Encounter - NASA Science NASA’s Lucy spacecraft will soon reach the small main belt asteroid Donaldjohanson. In this image, created by stacking images that the Lucy spacecraft took during its approach, the asteroid appears as...

We're getting so close to Donaldjohanson, closest approach is shortly after midday EDT on Sunday! #BetterKnowAnAsteroid

A version of the meme featuring a scene from The Simpsons in Bart's classroom, split into three panels vertically. In the top panel, several school children and their teacher are looking expectantly at the camera. You've got Milhouse, Martin, several other children—the gang's all there. The caption, "say the line, asteroid expert!" appears over this panel. In the second panel, Bart Simpson has been replaced with a screenshot from the new NASA documentary 'Planetary Defenders'. Dr. Vishnu Reddy appears with a large observatory telescope behind him. The caption reads, "the dinosaurs went extinct because they didn't have a space program." In the third panel, we return to The Simpsons classroom, with a wider overhead shot showing Bart near the center, sitting dejectedly, while everyone else surrounding him has their arms in the air and are cheering in celebration.

So, has everyone else already watched the new #asteroid documentary from NASA? And are we all ready for the Lucy flyby of Donaldjohanson on Sunday? #BetterKnowAnAsteroid

With apologies to Dr. Reddy, who's doing great work at my alma mater...

🎶 When a random rock hits your Moon like a big pizza pie, that's #BetterKnowAnAsteroid 🎶

My #planetarium is ready for the upcoming #BetterKnowAnAsteroid holiday, April 20. The Lucy spacecraft will fly by a smallish main belt #asteroid named Donaldjohanson. For this #astroviz, I made full use of SPICE kernels to control the 3D model. Always happy to shine a light on #TeamAsteroid!

New Modeling Assesses Age of Next Target Asteroid for NASA’s Lucy - NASA Although NASA’s Lucy spacecraft’s upcoming encounter with the asteroid Donaldjohanson is primarily a mission rehearsal for later asteroid encounters, a new

New asteroid close-up coming in about one month! #BetterKnowAnAsteroid

Picture taken in a planetarium with a mostly black background. In the top left, a simulation of the planet Mars is seen at a middle distance, with the orbits of its mind drawn around it. A spacecraft with gold foil on the side facing us and solar panels stretching out to the left and right is seen in front of Mars, simulating the recent flyby conducted by the ESA Hera mission. Centered and in the foreground of the scene are three images released by ESA. On the left is a colorized near infrared image with the small moon Deimos backdropped by the disk of Mars rendered in hues of blue. In the middle is a yellow-red-purple colored mid infrared image showing temperature differences—Deimos is bright yellow indicating higher temperatures than mostly orange, red, and purple Mars. Finally on the right is a colorized image from the framing camera meant to initiate what the human eye might see. Mars' cratered surface is orange and Deimos is dark gray.

Hera's #BetterKnowAnAsteroid test run at Mars is in the #planetarium and ready for tomorrow's shows

A nice #BetterKnowAnAsteroid thread for your Saturday night.

Remnants of a lost Planetesimal: Searching for the Angrite parent body It is hypothesized that the Solar System was once populated by Moon to Mars-sized planetary embryos, however, resulting debris from their disruptions …

Want to go back to a better time? Ya know, like when the inner solar system was filled with numerous Moon- to Mars-sized first-generation planetesimals? Before planets and their various problems? Check out an angrite meteorite. #BetterKnowAnAsteroid

Near-Earth asteroid Bennu could hit Earth in 157 years and set off a global ‘impact winter,’ study says | CNN Near-Earth asteroid Bennu has a slim chance of colliding with Earth in 2182. If it does, the impact could trigger a global winter that affects our planet for years.

While asteroid impacts are top of mind, let's pause for a moment to consider just how bad the impact of a modestly sized rock like Bennu should be. #BetterKnowAnAsteroid

Need canyons in a hurry? Call an asteroid.
#BetterKnowAnAsteroid

NASA’s Asteroid Bennu Sample Reveals Mix of Life’s Ingredients - NASA Studies of rock and dust from asteroid Bennu delivered to Earth by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification and

The sample from the #OSIRISREx mission is revealing a whole host of molecules important for life. Also, based on the graphics used in the press conference, the researcher in the image is holding a vial of hot water extract nicknamed "Bennu tea" which I, for one, would drink. #BetterKnowAnAsteroid

#BetterKnowAnAsteroid