Related papers: Interstellar Interloper 1I/2017 U1: Observations f…
We present BVR photometric colors of six Uranian and two Neptunian irregular satellites, collected using the Magellan Observatory (Las Campanas, Chile) and the Keck Observatory, (Manua Kea, Hawaii). The colors range from neutral to light…
Dynamical mass estimates for the main asteroid belt and the trans-Neptunian Kuiper belt have been found from their gravitational influence on the motion of planets. Discrete rotating models consisting of moving material points have been…
The phenomenon of 1I/'Oumuamua introduced the interstellar object (ISO) class of celestial body into the astronomical lexicon, those objects with heliocentric speeds clearly in excess of that required to parabolically escape the Solar…
We show that `Oumuamua's excited spin could be in a high energy LAM state, which implies that its shape could be far from the highly elongated shape found in previous studies. CLEAN and ANOVA algorithms are used to analyze `Oumuamua's…
Trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) are considered to be among the most primitive objects in our Solar System. Knowledge of their primary physical properties is essential for understanding their origin and the evolution of the outer Solar…
We present new time-resolved photometric observations of the bright trans-Neptunian object (20000) Varuna and use them to study the rotation period, shape, and color. In observations from 2001 February and April, we find a best-fit…
The interstellar object 3I/ATLAS shows a weak cometary activity. Its brightness suggests a maximum radius of ~10km (A/0.05)^{-1/2} for an asteroid with an albedo A. I show that interstellar objects with that radius would amount to an…
We report the discovery of a dwarf planet candidate, 2017 OF201, currently located at a distance of 90 au. Its orbit is extremely wide and extends to the inner Oort cloud, with a semi-major axis of 830 au and a perihelion of 45 au,…
This study aims to determine the size, albedo and rotational period of (98943) 2001 CC21, target of the Hayabusa2 extended mission, using thermal data from the Spitzer Space telescope and ground based observations. The Spitzer data were…
Asteroids of size larger than 0.15 km generally do not have periods smaller than 2.2 hours, a limit known as cohesionless spin barrier. This barrier can be explained by the cohesionless rubble-pile structure model. There are few exceptions…
An extensive set of optical and NIR photometry and low-resolution spectra the Type Ia supernova (SN Ia) 2003du was obtained using a number of facilities. The observations started 13 days before B-band maximum light and continued for 480…
We consider the application of interferometry to measuring the sizes and shapes of small bodies in the solar system that cannot be spatially resolved by today's single-dish telescopes. Assuming ellipsoidal shapes, our results indicate that…
We present optical spectroscopy of the recently discovered hyperbolic near-Earth object A/2017 U1, taken on 25 Oct 2017 at Palomar Observatory. Although our data are at a very low signal-to-noise, they indicate a very red surface at optical…
We present high resolution imaging observations of interstellar comet 2I/Borisov (formerly C/2019 Q4) obtained using the Hubble Space Telescope. Scattering from the comet is dominated by a coma of large particles (characteristic size 0.1…
In the framework of the Visible NEAs Observations Survey (ViNOS) that uses several telescopes at the Canary Islands observatories since 2018, we observed two super fast rotator NEAs, 2021 NY$_1$ and 2022 AB. We obtained photometry and…
The discovery of `Oumuamua and CNEOS 2014-01-08 allowed for a calibration of the impact rate of interstellar objects. We propose a new telescope in lunar orbit to study in real-time interstellar meteoroid impacts and to serve as a…
During the formation of our solar system, a large number of planetesimals were ejected into interstellar space by gravitational encounters with the planets. Debris disks observations and numerical simulations indicate that many other…
We report results of intensive time-resolved imaging photometry and synoptic deep imaging of the comet C/2012 S1 (ISON) performed in February 2013. The data were obtained at the Wise Observatory in Israel (WO), at the Himalayan Chandra…
We report the statistical detection (at the >99% confidence level) of a population of 28th magnitude objects exhibiting proper motions of ~1 arcsecond per hour at quadrature in deep HST/WFPC2 images. The drift directions imply a…
We propose that collisions between neutron stars and interstellar asteroids, such as `Oumuamua, could power observable radio flares in the Milky Way galaxy. We find the rate of such events at $\sim 1 \mathrm{\; Jy}$ to be $\sim 10…