astrafoxen
20 - any pronouns
Astrophysics undergrad student in California (grad '27), aspiring planetary scientist. I do astronomy research on asteroids, comets and TNOs!
pfp by EchaSkqech
banner by Ian Regan
- i see this as an absolute win :3
- Some stuff I did for the first 3 days of @morgandenman.bsky.social's #SpacetoberChallenge! Been too busy with college so I can't do these on time blehhhh (I'll post these individually later)
- (update) This teeny meter-wide asteroid C15KM95 was officially announced with the new name "2025 TF" today! minorplanetcenter.net/mpec/K25/K25... (and a neat photo of the asteroid by @filipp-romanov.bsky.social over at: bsky.app/profile/fili...) Now to wait an hour until this gets on Wikipedia...
- nyoooom
- Reposted by astrafoxenDwarf Planet #Quaoar and its moon #Weywot with #Hubble WFC3/UVIS filter F350LP. Quaoar is located in the Kuiper Belt (beyond planet Neptune). I combined different epochs and oriented them with north being up. I removed stars. The moon changed position during its orbit around the #DwarfPlanet.
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- ooooo hypeeee!!
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- heck yeah Makemake getting that makeover from JWST! So now we have evidence of geochemical activity, a cryovolcanic hotspot, and a potential atmosphere. I swear if Makemake turns out to also have rings or a second moon, it's gonna become my 4th favorite dwarf planet
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- MORE DWARF PLANETS AND BIG TNOS NAMED BY THE IAU TODAY YEAHHHHH 2004 GV9 → Goibniu 2005 RM43 → Rumina 2002 UX25 & moon → Uni & Tinia * Uni is weird because it's made of holey ice less dense than water 2002 XW93 → Xewioso 2013 FY27 → Chiminigagua (named 3 weeks ago, but nobody mentioned it on bsky)
- this is a continuation of this btw bsky.app/profile/astr...
- weyWHAT An unexpected occultation discovery of a potential 2nd moon or 3rd ring arc around dwarf planet Quaoar! The new moon/ring is 30±2 km wide and seems to be 5757 km from Quaoar—suspiciously close to 7:2 orbital resonance with Quaoar's big moon Weywot! iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3... ☄️
- Reposted by astrafoxenI also did a #JWST image of the TNO #Altjira that I never posted. It might be a triple system. My image processing from 18. August: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Al...
- Reposted by astrafoxenThis is a trans-Neptunian object (TNO) that is a triple system. TNOs orbit beyond planet Neptune. 🔭 The source on the left is actually two objects, called Lempo and Hiisi. The object on the right is called Paha. My processing of this #JWST NIRCam image: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Le...
- EEEEE LOOK AT IT :DDD
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- oh sick JWST results on 3I/ATLAS finally dropped science.nasa.gov/blogs/3iatla... "a CO2 dominated coma, with enhanced outgassing in the sunward direction, and the presence of H2O, CO, OCS, water ice and dust. The coma CO2/H2O mixing ratio of 8.0 ± 1.0 is among the highest ever observed in a comet"
- Here's the full paper btw zenodo.org/records/1694... Absolutely gorgeous spectrum (left image) showing the crapton of CO2 in this comet. And apparently 3I/ATLAS may have the third highest CO2 abundance relative to water seen in a comet!
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- Reposted by astrafoxenDwarf planet #Quaoar with its moon #Weywot (small white point right side). The system orbits the sun in the #KuiperBelt beyond planet Neptune. Quaoar has rings (not seen here). 🪐🌕 🔭 #planetsci #dwarfplanet My image with #JWST, processed today: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Qu...
- Reposted by astrafoxenDwarf planet #Eris and its moon #Dysnomia 🌕 (lower left) with #JWST. 🔭 Eris is the most massive dwarf planet in the solar system, in orbit around the sun beyond Neptune. More massive, but smaller than Pluto. #DwarfPlanet #planetsci My image processing: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Er...
- oh hell yeah first we got SPHEREx discovering carbon dioxide/CO2 gas in 3I/ATLAS yesterday (spherex.caltech.edu/news/3i-atla...) and now we have reports of cyanide/CN gas in 3I/ATLAS today
- jamming to deltarune song remixes while fighting space misinformation :3 (I've been busy improving the 3I/ATLAS Wikipedia article..!) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3I/ATLAS
- Quick aside, I'm really happy that more big TNOs/dwarf planet candidates got official names this year, 2 decades after their discovery :D 2005 RN43 → "Ritona" today 2003 AZ84 → "Achlys" on June 30 2002 AW197 → "Aya" on June 30 2002 MS4 → "Máni" on June 9 (size comparison by Lunathesilly on wiki)
- Here's the new IAU Small Body Nomenclature bulletin containing 109 new names for minor planets! www.wgsbn-iau.org/files/Bullet...
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