Michele Bannister
@astrokiwi.bsky.social
Planetary astronomer @UCNZ: envisioning worlds from here and elsewhere, in a dark & glorious sky. Rutherford Discovery Fellow. Asteroid (10463). Pākehā; she
Pinned
Michele Bannister
@astrokiwi.bsky.social
· Jun 10
Near-future rocket launches could slow ozone recovery
npj Climate and Atmospheric Science - Near-future rocket launches could slow ozone recovery
rdcu.be
New paper day! In 'Near-future rocket launches could slow ozone recovery', we show that scaling up use of launch vehicles 🚀 has a point where the healing of the ozone layer is affected 🧪🛰️
Open access, free to read & share
Open access, free to read & share
Reposted by Michele Bannister
Check out the new trailer for @esa.int's proposed Ramses mission! 🍿📽️
Ramses would escort the cruise-ship-sized asteroid Apophis through its safe but exceptionally rare flyby of Earth in 2029: www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed...
Ramses would escort the cruise-ship-sized asteroid Apophis through its safe but exceptionally rare flyby of Earth in 2029: www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed...
Ramses: ESA’s mission to rendezvous with asteroid Apophis
www.esa.int
October 13, 2025 at 12:38 PM
Check out the new trailer for @esa.int's proposed Ramses mission! 🍿📽️
Ramses would escort the cruise-ship-sized asteroid Apophis through its safe but exceptionally rare flyby of Earth in 2029: www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed...
Ramses would escort the cruise-ship-sized asteroid Apophis through its safe but exceptionally rare flyby of Earth in 2029: www.esa.int/ESA_Multimed...
Reposted by Michele Bannister
ESA's RAMSES mission is funded ! We are going to visit asteroid Apophis in 2029 :D
www.esa.int/About_Us/Cor...
#planetaryscience
www.esa.int/About_Us/Cor...
#planetaryscience
ESA Member States commit to largest contributions at Ministerial
The largest contributions in the history of the European Space Agency, €22.1 bn, have been approved at its Council meeting at Ministerial level in Bremen, ...
www.esa.int
November 28, 2025 at 8:04 AM
ESA's RAMSES mission is funded ! We are going to visit asteroid Apophis in 2029 :D
www.esa.int/About_Us/Cor...
#planetaryscience
www.esa.int/About_Us/Cor...
#planetaryscience
3I has been a thought-provoking practice run in a number of ways... How exciting would it be if we get to point CoCa at an ISO!
Today and tomorrow we’re having the science team meeting of the CoCa instrument on @cometinterceptor.bsky.social. CoCa (Comet Camera) is the main high resolution camera on the mission. We‘ll be discussing calibration and how to get maximum science return.
November 28, 2025 at 9:55 AM
3I has been a thought-provoking practice run in a number of ways... How exciting would it be if we get to point CoCa at an ISO!
Piped sounds of the bush do not, in fact, improve the ambience of a hospital, since it just seems to accentuate the wistfulness of being somewhere other then a hospital
November 27, 2025 at 1:52 AM
Piped sounds of the bush do not, in fact, improve the ambience of a hospital, since it just seems to accentuate the wistfulness of being somewhere other then a hospital
Reposted by Michele Bannister
A very close view of the craters that cover the surface of Saturn’s icy moon Rhea. NASA’s Cassini mission made this flyby in January 2011, passing within 76 kilometers (47 miles) at a speed of 8 km/sec (18,000 mph). This image had a resolution up to 22.6 meters per pixel towards the closer terrain.
November 23, 2025 at 1:31 AM
A very close view of the craters that cover the surface of Saturn’s icy moon Rhea. NASA’s Cassini mission made this flyby in January 2011, passing within 76 kilometers (47 miles) at a speed of 8 km/sec (18,000 mph). This image had a resolution up to 22.6 meters per pixel towards the closer terrain.
The carnations are coming in 🌱🇳🇿
November 22, 2025 at 4:59 AM
The carnations are coming in 🌱🇳🇿
Reposted by Michele Bannister
🔭 3I/ATLAS: A View from Planet Earth
Image Credit & Copyright: Rolando Ligustri
apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap25112...
Image Credit & Copyright: Rolando Ligustri
apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap25112...
November 21, 2025 at 8:00 AM
🔭 3I/ATLAS: A View from Planet Earth
Image Credit & Copyright: Rolando Ligustri
apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap25112...
Image Credit & Copyright: Rolando Ligustri
apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap25112...
Reposted by Michele Bannister
HiRISE Image of Exocomet 3I/ATLAS!
On 2 October 2025, MRO turned away from Mars to image 3I/ATLAS, only the third interstellar object ever observed passing through our solar system!
https://www.uahirise.org/releases/3i-atlas/
On 2 October 2025, MRO turned away from Mars to image 3I/ATLAS, only the third interstellar object ever observed passing through our solar system!
https://www.uahirise.org/releases/3i-atlas/
November 19, 2025 at 9:01 PM
HiRISE Image of Exocomet 3I/ATLAS!
On 2 October 2025, MRO turned away from Mars to image 3I/ATLAS, only the third interstellar object ever observed passing through our solar system!
https://www.uahirise.org/releases/3i-atlas/
On 2 October 2025, MRO turned away from Mars to image 3I/ATLAS, only the third interstellar object ever observed passing through our solar system!
https://www.uahirise.org/releases/3i-atlas/
Reposted by Michele Bannister
Here are the #I/ATLAS releases from varied NASA/ESA missions. Having worked with such telescope & spacecraft data for 40 years, my perspective is: no surprises. It's a comet; its differences from Solar System comets are intriguing but every comet is different! science.nasa.gov/solar-system...
November 19, 2025 at 8:42 PM
Here are the #I/ATLAS releases from varied NASA/ESA missions. Having worked with such telescope & spacecraft data for 40 years, my perspective is: no surprises. It's a comet; its differences from Solar System comets are intriguing but every comet is different! science.nasa.gov/solar-system...
Reposted by Michele Bannister
Remember that lovely aurora last week?
Well...um...this is what Euclid saw... 😱
🧵
Well...um...this is what Euclid saw... 😱
🧵
November 19, 2025 at 11:51 AM
Remember that lovely aurora last week?
Well...um...this is what Euclid saw... 😱
🧵
Well...um...this is what Euclid saw... 😱
🧵
Reposted by Michele Bannister
huge news for all of you comet composition nerds out there: according to this new ATel by Ganesh et al., C/2025 K1 (ATLAS) is another NH2-dominated comet like Machholz (!) or Yanaka (!!)
November 18, 2025 at 5:47 PM
huge news for all of you comet composition nerds out there: according to this new ATel by Ganesh et al., C/2025 K1 (ATLAS) is another NH2-dominated comet like Machholz (!) or Yanaka (!!)
Summer is a' coming in. The pollinators are delighted #bloomscrolling 🌱🇳🇿
November 19, 2025 at 7:47 AM
Summer is a' coming in. The pollinators are delighted #bloomscrolling 🌱🇳🇿
Reposted by Michele Bannister
3 years ago, NASA crashed the DART spacecraft into an asteroid at 22,000 kilometers per hour. The event changed the asteroid's orbit and tilt & sent it tumbling.
A nearby cubesat captured these remarkable images of the asteroid immediately after the impact. 🧪🔭
aasnova.org/2025/11/03/s...
A nearby cubesat captured these remarkable images of the asteroid immediately after the impact. 🧪🔭
aasnova.org/2025/11/03/s...
November 19, 2025 at 4:12 AM
3 years ago, NASA crashed the DART spacecraft into an asteroid at 22,000 kilometers per hour. The event changed the asteroid's orbit and tilt & sent it tumbling.
A nearby cubesat captured these remarkable images of the asteroid immediately after the impact. 🧪🔭
aasnova.org/2025/11/03/s...
A nearby cubesat captured these remarkable images of the asteroid immediately after the impact. 🧪🔭
aasnova.org/2025/11/03/s...
Reposted by Michele Bannister
It is a very interesting dot.
"NASA to Share Comet 3I/ATLAS Images From Spacecraft, Telescopes"
www.nasa.gov/news-release...
(Again, raw images of 3I from NASA spaceccraft have been available - these are the processed images with expert commentary.)
"NASA to Share Comet 3I/ATLAS Images From Spacecraft, Telescopes"
www.nasa.gov/news-release...
(Again, raw images of 3I from NASA spaceccraft have been available - these are the processed images with expert commentary.)
NASA to Share Comet 3I/ATLAS Images From Spacecraft, Telescopes - NASA
NASA will host a live event at 3 p.m. EST, Wednesday, Nov. 19, to share imagery of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS collected by a number of the agency’s
www.nasa.gov
November 17, 2025 at 10:11 PM
It is a very interesting dot.
"NASA to Share Comet 3I/ATLAS Images From Spacecraft, Telescopes"
www.nasa.gov/news-release...
(Again, raw images of 3I from NASA spaceccraft have been available - these are the processed images with expert commentary.)
"NASA to Share Comet 3I/ATLAS Images From Spacecraft, Telescopes"
www.nasa.gov/news-release...
(Again, raw images of 3I from NASA spaceccraft have been available - these are the processed images with expert commentary.)
Reposted by Michele Bannister
And here's the real downer... AST SpaceMobile plans to launch a few hundred satellites that are as bright as Saturn when sunlit. So. A lot more research images will look like this in the near future.
Thanks, direct-to-cell gigantic satellites.
Thanks, direct-to-cell gigantic satellites.
November 18, 2025 at 5:00 PM
And here's the real downer... AST SpaceMobile plans to launch a few hundred satellites that are as bright as Saturn when sunlit. So. A lot more research images will look like this in the near future.
Thanks, direct-to-cell gigantic satellites.
Thanks, direct-to-cell gigantic satellites.
Reposted by Michele Bannister
November 18, 2025 at 5:09 PM
Reposted by Michele Bannister
Now that the US gov is open, 3I/ATLAS images from the Mars-orbiting HiRISE camera will soon be out. My money is on them looking just like regular cometary images. If that disappoints you, scan the HiRISE catalog for spectacular Mars images like this one uahirise.org/catalog/
November 15, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Now that the US gov is open, 3I/ATLAS images from the Mars-orbiting HiRISE camera will soon be out. My money is on them looking just like regular cometary images. If that disappoints you, scan the HiRISE catalog for spectacular Mars images like this one uahirise.org/catalog/
Reposted by Michele Bannister
Indeed, two decades ago now
This should have been the end of Larry Summers.
Why women are poor at science, by Harvard president
The president of Harvard University has provoked a furore by arguing that men outperform women in maths and sciences because of biological difference, and discrimination is no longer a career barrier ...
www.theguardian.com
November 16, 2025 at 8:26 AM
Indeed, two decades ago now
3I/ATLAS is the first interstellar object bright enough for amateurs to image: so fabulous to see the delight ☄️😍
I got it... I actually got it... Interstellar comet 3i, imaged from the middle of light-polluted Kendal, at 6am this morning, using my Seestar S50... This comet was already billions of years old before our Sun was even *born*... Very chuffed with this!
November 16, 2025 at 8:51 AM
3I/ATLAS is the first interstellar object bright enough for amateurs to image: so fabulous to see the delight ☄️😍
Great to see this 3I/ATLAS data now through. A CaSSIS-descendant camera flies on Comet Interceptor, so great practice!
Clarification: it's not the first comet data measured from Mars (cf. comet Siding Spring in 2014)
Clarification: it's not the first comet data measured from Mars (cf. comet Siding Spring in 2014)
#3IATLAS update: we've just pinpointed the comet's path with 10 times more accuracy, using data from our #ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter spacecraft. 😎🧪🔭
www.esa.int/Space_Safety...
www.esa.int/Space_Safety...
November 14, 2025 at 6:49 PM
Great to see this 3I/ATLAS data now through. A CaSSIS-descendant camera flies on Comet Interceptor, so great practice!
Clarification: it's not the first comet data measured from Mars (cf. comet Siding Spring in 2014)
Clarification: it's not the first comet data measured from Mars (cf. comet Siding Spring in 2014)
Reposted by Michele Bannister
From @noirlabastro.bsky.social: Comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) gleams against the January sky above three NOIRLab-supported telescopes in this image. The last time it was visible from Earth was about 600,000 years ago. #astronomy
CTIO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/C. Corco
CTIO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/C. Corco
November 12, 2025 at 4:01 PM
From @noirlabastro.bsky.social: Comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) gleams against the January sky above three NOIRLab-supported telescopes in this image. The last time it was visible from Earth was about 600,000 years ago. #astronomy
CTIO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/C. Corco
CTIO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/C. Corco
Reposted by Michele Bannister
We have upgraded our geomagnetic forecast today (12 November 2025) to the highest intensity level amid an ongoing solar storm.
Current predictions suggest that the activity will result in potentially the largest solar storm to hit our planet in over two decades.
Current predictions suggest that the activity will result in potentially the largest solar storm to hit our planet in over two decades.
November 12, 2025 at 2:55 PM
We have upgraded our geomagnetic forecast today (12 November 2025) to the highest intensity level amid an ongoing solar storm.
Current predictions suggest that the activity will result in potentially the largest solar storm to hit our planet in over two decades.
Current predictions suggest that the activity will result in potentially the largest solar storm to hit our planet in over two decades.
Reposted by Michele Bannister
JWST's recent Cycle 5 call garnered 2,935 proposals (requests to use this amazing telescope and its data 🔭), breaking the record that it set last year! The proposals represent 7,509 unique investigators over a range of career stages, and come from institutions in 59 countries and 47 U.S. states!
November 12, 2025 at 5:59 PM
JWST's recent Cycle 5 call garnered 2,935 proposals (requests to use this amazing telescope and its data 🔭), breaking the record that it set last year! The proposals represent 7,509 unique investigators over a range of career stages, and come from institutions in 59 countries and 47 U.S. states!
Reposted by Michele Bannister
November 12, 2025 at 9:43 AM
Deeply happy to have been asked to give a plenary at the 15th Asteroids Comets Meteors conference next year, on 'Interstellar visitors: An overview of observational and theoretical studies with emphasis on 3I/ATLAS'.
November 12, 2025 at 9:28 AM
Deeply happy to have been asked to give a plenary at the 15th Asteroids Comets Meteors conference next year, on 'Interstellar visitors: An overview of observational and theoretical studies with emphasis on 3I/ATLAS'.