相关论文: "Dark comet" 2005 VL$_1$ is unlikely to be the los…

Recently, Seligman et. al. (2024) identified a population of near-Earth objects (NEOs) that exhibit statistically significant non-gravitational accelerations with no coma, and labeled them dark comets. Here, we show that one of these…

I show that the small differences between the orbital parameters of the dark comet 2005 VL1 and the Venera 2 spacecraft (reported in arXiv:2503.07972) are of the magnitude expected from gravitational deflection by a close encounter of…

The solar system object 2005 VL1 passed close to Earth in late 1965. It has been suggested that it is actually the space probe Venera-2. However, a comparison of the orbits presented in this note demonstrates that the proposed association…

Historically, there is no doubt that the early years of the USSR space program put them way ahead of the competition (the USA). Nonetheless, although this was not what the Russians wished to present to the world, the interplanetary…

Short-period comet P/2010 H2 (Vales) underwent a significant outburst of $>7.5$~mag in 2010 and has not been detected since that apparition. Here we report our recovery attempt of P/Vales using the 4.3-m Lowell Discovery Telescope (LDT)…

Jupiter-family Comet D/1770 L1 (Lexell) was the first discovered Near-Earth Object (NEO), and passed the Earth on 1770 Jul 1 at a recorded distance of 0.015 au. The comet was subsequently lost due to unfavorable observing circumstances…

On January 10 and 13, 2001, Venus was observed for the first time with an X-ray astronomy satellite. The observation, performed with the ACIS-I and LETG/ACIS-S instruments on Chandra, yielded data of high spatial, spectral, and temporal…

We report the discovery of the minor planet 2003 VB12 (popularly named Sedna), the most distant object ever seen in the solar system. Pre-discovery images from 2001, 2002, and 2003 have allowed us to refine the orbit sufficiently to…

On January 10 and 13, 2001, Venus was observed for the first time with an X-ray astronomy satellite. The observation, performed with the ACIS-I and LETG/ACIS-S instruments on Chandra, yielded data of high spatial, spectral, and temporal…

Long period comet C/2021 A1 (Leonard) will approach Venus to within 0.029 au on 2021 December 18 and may subsequently graze the planet with its dust trail less than two days later. We observed C/2021 A1 with the Lowell Discovery Telescope…

A search of the first Data Release of the VISTA Variables in the Via Lactea (VVV) Survey discovered the exceptionally red transient VVV-WIT-01 ($H-K_s=5.2$). It peaked before March 2010, then faded by $\sim$9.5 mag over the following two…

We report a statistically significant detection of nongravitational acceleration on the sub-kilometer near-Earth asteroid (523599) 2003 RM. Due to its orbit, 2003 RM experiences favorable observing apparitions every 5 years. Thus, since its…

So-called 'dark comets' are small, morphologically inactive near-Earth objects (NEOs) that exhibit nongravitational accelerations inconsistent with radiative effects. These objects exhibit short rotational periods (minutes to hours), where…

Regular, low-cost Decadal-class science missions to planetary destinations will be enabled by high-{\Delta}V small spacecraft, such as the high-energy Photon, and small launch vehicles, such as Electron, to support expanding opportunities…

Context: It is not known how many globular clusters may have been left undetected towards the Galactic bulge. Aims: One of the aims of the VISTA Variables in the Via Lactea (VVV) Survey is to accurately measure the physical parameters of…

We report the discovery of VVV-WIT-04, a near-infrared variable source towards the Galactic disk located ~0.2 arcsec apart from the position of the radio source PMN J1515-5559. The object was found serendipitously in the near-IR data of the…

We observed VB 10 in August and September 2009 using the FORS2 camera of the VLT with the aim of measuring its astrometric motion and of probing the presence of the announced planet VB 10b. We used the published STEPS astrometric positions…

Minor planet 2002 VE68 was identified as a quasi-satellite of Venus shortly after its discovery. At that time its data-arc span was only 24 days, now it is 2,947 days. Here we revisit the topic of the dynamical status of this remarkable…

Proxima Centauri is known to host an earth-like planet in its habitable zone; very recently a second candidate planet was proposed based on radial velocities. At quadrature, the expected projected separation of this new candidate is larger…

We use near-infrared photometry and astrometry from the VISTA Variables in the Via Lactea (VVV) survey to analyse microlensing events containing annual microlensing parallax information. These events are located in highly extincted and…