Ned Wright

Finally the thermal balance is off because some solar input is going into vaporizing volatiles instead of thermal IR reradiation.

So analyzing a comet using asteroid thermal models will be wrong in many ways. Certainly the diameter and albedo will be affected. 3/3

The dust in the coma will be optically thin so a 1/lambda emissivity variation will make the dust hotter AND the spectrum will look bluer than the physical temperature.

So the NEATM will give a very low beaming parameter eta.

And the estimated size is much larger than the nucleus. 2/n

Cometary activity affects both the optical and the thermal IR emission. Both go up a lot. So you definitely derive a much bigger diameter if you don't allow for the coma emission.

The coma has a 1/r surface brightness profile so the image is more spread out than the PSF, so you can tell. 1/n

Blue oval sign saying Stoney Beach

Lifeguard stand with two lifeguards and a sign listing MBL Stony Beach Rules

The biggest mystery in Woods Hole, outside of the nature of the 70% of the world covered by oceans and the life therein, is whether it’s Stoney Beach or Stony Beach.

Two masted square rigger at Dyer’s Dock

Drawbridge going up for the boat in the foreground. The Captain Kidd is visible just behind the bridge

On my way to buy eggs at the Woods Hole Market I saw that the Corwith Cramer is back and then I had to wait for the drawbridge

The Lowells speak only to Cabots, and the Cabots speak only to God

Big blue ship with white superstructure

Ceramic tile with a picture of the R/V Chain

WHOI’s current big R/V, the Neil Armstrong, came in today. In the 60’s the R/V Chain was the big R/V, and I spent a week on it off Portugal.
The Chain was a minesweeper in WWII and was scrapped years ago. The Captain Kidd used to have her nameplate hanging in the bar.

The R/V Atlantic Explorer in white at WHOI Smith dock with Woods Hole Great Harbor behind

New ship in at WHOI Smith dock, the R/V Atlantic Explorer from the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences

The New York Times - Breaking News, US News, World News and Videos Live news, investigations, opinion, photos and video by the journalists of The New York Times from more than 150 countries around the world. Subscribe for coverage of U.S. and international news, poli...

Hey @nytimes your coverage of the UEFA women's euros France v Germany fails on the nytimes.com website. Fix it ASAP - it's live now.

And ditch the Athletic since you seem unable to make it work.

I was in grad school when the HP-35 came out in 1972 and I couldn't afford it. So I did a lot of calculations on slide rules. My favorite was a circular slide rule which I still have but the markings on the scales are nearly worn off. But I learned FORTRAN in 1964 for the big jobs.

Two masted 134 foot sailing ship at a dock with buildings in the background

I’m in Woods Hole
Here’s a photo of the Corwith Cramer of the Sea Education Association
There’s a meeting happening on the fantail so I think they’ll be sailing soon

Hey @nytimes fix your sports coverage! Once again the links to the Athletic go blank after loading. It is absolutely time for you to sever this relationship.

The waxing gibbous Moon over a house on the next street over, with the background noise of unseen distant fireworks.

Happy 4th!

Happy Asteroid Day!

OTD in 1908 a ~50 m diameter asteroid slammed into Siberia near Tunguska and knocked down trees over 2000 sq km.

2024 YR4 which isn't going to hit us in 2032 (tho it might hit the Moon) is about that large.

We must find them first before they find us!

Go Rubin & NEOS

Wide angle view of the rocket and plume lit up by the setting sun

That inclination takes it over LA so I got a good shot

Le Conte crosses Hilgard and then is lined with trees covered in purple blossoms

Sunday was Father’s Day as well as the Physics & Astronomy graduation ceremony.

Plus it’s jacaranda time in Westwood!

Spectrum finally fixed the problem. It was 21 hours out for me. Apparently would-be copper thieves cut the fiber-optic cables. Everybody needs a STEM education!

Having taught Order Of Magnitude Astrophysics, I always use the "small circle approximation": 2 = pi = 1

Although this does make it hard to locate a particular asteroid.

Luckily irsa.ipac.caltec.edu will do that for you, in either the WISE/NEOWISE images or the single frame source table.

Still out 12 hours later and no ETA for a fix.
Does anyone have info on why Spectrum is so f*cked up?
T-Mobile cellular data service is really poor in my canyon.
Frontier's FIOS is around but it has lots of outages too.
Elmu's Starlink is awful for astronomy so I don't want that.
What can I do?

Spectrum cable & internet is out in my canyon due to a break in a fiber optic cable. Several hours to fix. T-mobile signal going in and out. At least the twisted copper pair to my landline still works & I have power.

The T Rex that eats fascists

Elect a rapist expect 2 be fucked

Signs at the rally:

Two US flags held upside down

At #nokings rally in Beverly Hills
Lots of flags but mainly upside down

Rooftops, trees & distant hills under an overcast sky

Today is the earliest sunrise of the year in LA but we have the usual June gloom:

scrennshot all white except for the URL at the top and the error message on the bottom.

Hey @nytimes.com your sports coverage should not keep popping this error. Time to drop the Athletic if you&they cannot get this straightened out.

License plate holder saying “My other car is NOT a Tesla”

12 years ago I got my Nissan Leaf and also a license plate holder from the Tesla showroom on 3rd St in Santa Monica. It’s message was never true so it’s finally been fixed with a Sharpie. #Teslatakedown

The Big Bad Budget passed the House by one vote.
Gerry Connolly (D) just died at 75.
Raúl Grijalva (D) died at 77 in March.
Sylvester Turner (D) died at 70 in March.
These 3 seats are still vacant so the BBB would have failed if Democrats weren't so old.

My rep Brad Sherman is 70. Argh!

Not seeing anything matching on
www.heavens-above.com/AllSats.aspx...

So Donald Trump not only wants to surrender in the war on cancer, but also in the war on dementia.

Which is very odd given Trump's obvious mental decline.

Went to a dinner talk at UCLA last night.
David Eisenberg talked about his lab's research into treatments for Alzheimer's. Has a promising drug that actually worked in a pilot study in mice, but was told by NIH that a proposal for expanded trials would not even be reviewed. 1/2

Steel business card for a metalworking firm

Found on the side of the main road - a business card from Universal Iron Works of Pacoima made from magnetic stainless steel.