Haumea Archives

Three station light curves of 2002 XV93’s stellar occultation on 10 January 2024. The flux points (points with error bars) observed at Kyoto (a), Kiso (b) and Fukushima stations (c) overlaid with the synthetic light curves (red lines, assuming a pure CH4 atmosphere and a best-fit surface pressure of 124 nanobars) are shown as a function of time. In panel c, the gray points are the flux points for the individual exposures, and the black points are those binned by a factor of 8. The vertical arrow represents the closest approach time to the shadow edge at Fukushima, at 13:12:50.818 UT. -- astro-ph.EP

Astrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Pluto, Status Report

The First Detection Of An Atmosphere On A Trans-Neptunian Object Beyond Pluto

by Keith CowingMay 8, 2026May 8, 2026

Trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) in the outer Solar System are predominantly small, icy worlds long presumed to be atmosphereless except for the largest bodies.

Projected view of Bennu, generated with a ∼20,000-facet downsampled shape model, as seen from Earth on 15 September 2005 (phase angle of 61.9◦). -- astro-ph.EP

AI - Data - Apps - Cybernetics, Astrogeology, Comets and Asteroids, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report

An Open-Access Web Tool for Light Curve Simulation and Analysis of Small Solar System Objects

by Keith CowingOctober 12, 2025October 12, 2025

We present a web-based application designed to simulate rotational light curves of small airless Solar System bodies under user-defined geometrical and physical conditions.