Sabina Raducan

Dr. Simon Lock presenting at ISSI.

Prof. Miki Nakajima presenting at ISSI.

ISSI Programme Manager Sabina Raducan introducing ISSI to the audience.

Audience gathering at ISSI for a seminar.

Today at ISSI, we had the pleasure of hosting the CSH+ Lunch Seminar with Prof. Miki Nakajima @mikinakajima.bsky.social (University of Rochester, US) and Dr. Simon Lock (University of Bristol, UK). 🔭

Thank you to our speakers and to everyone who joined us! 💫

@unibe.ch

Raphael Marschall giving a talk on solar system formation and evolution in Bern, Switzerland, February 19, 2026

Great talk by @spacemarschall.net!

Post-doc on properties of Solar system small bodies The small bodies of our Solar system (comets and asteroids) are the remnants of the building blocs that accreted to form the planets. The suite of events that occurred during planet formation left pri...

Are you looking for a postdoc position working on asteroids and comets? Would it help if it's in a beautiful place in southern France? If yes, then consider applying to the following position of my colleague Benoit Carry at the Observatory in Nice:
euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/402212

#planetSci

PRESS RELEASE Explore the asteroid Dinkinesh’s tiny moon Selam and how it has been formed from multiple low-speed collisions between small moonlets.

Scientists around ISSI's @raducan.bsky.social reveal that the tiny asteroid moon Selam did not form in one go:
it is a “puzzle” assembled from at least four slow-speed moonlets that gently stuck together over time.
🧩🛰️

See more in the Press Release: www.issibern.ch/asteroids-mo...

Introducing Dr Sabina Răducan: ISSI’s New Science Programme Manager | International Space Science Institute ISSI welcomes our new Science Programme Manager, Raphael Marschall!

🚀 Big year ahead for space science at ISSI! 🌌

Let’s start with introducing our—and your—new ISSI Science Programme Manager, Sabina Raducan! 😊

We asked her a couple of questions so you get to know her better already:
www.issibern.ch/introducing-... 🔭

@spacemarschall.net @harrisonagrusa.bsky.social

The study also has implications for the origin of #Didymos #Dimorphos (the target of #NASA #DART and #ESA #Hera missions), as our results suggest that multiple low-velocity mergers could be a common pathway for forming small asteroid satellites.

Multiple moonlet mergers as the origin of the Dinkinesh-Selam system - Nature Communications Space missions imaging small asteroid moons revealed the variety in shapes. Here, the authors show that repeated low-speed collisions can explain the shape of Selam, which is the smaller component in ...

New paper out 🥳
Using data from #NASA #Lucy mission and a series of numerical simulations, we show that #Selam, the moon of #Dinkinesh, likely formed through a series of at least four low-velocity collisions between similarly sized moonlets. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Thank you, Raphael! 🚀

Abstract Submission Abstract submission deadline: January 6, 2026, 11:59 p.m. U.S. CST No new or revised abstracts will be accepted after January 6. Abstract Submission Criteria All submitted abstracts must comply with Administration Executive Orders. Any non-compliant abstracts will be removed from consideration for the conference program.

Choosing to go to LPSC now that they've doubled down on banning any content about making the field a better place for underrepresented scientists? That would be rewarding this behavior and make the field even more unsafe! Just a thought!

Always happy to repost #DARTMission content, and happy to point to the Astrobites article discussing Tony Farnham's new paper therein!

Request for Information: Conference on Lunar, Planetary and Space Sciences Decision Made Not to Solicit Partnership Proposals Number: NNH25ZDA006L Short URL: https://go.nasa.gov/LPSS24RFI The Science Mission Directorate's (SMD) Planetary Science Division(PSD) is updating its Community Announcement regarding future Lunar, Planetary and Space Sciences Conferences that was published under Number: NNH25ZDA006L as a special notice on SAM.gov. In November 2024, NASA issued a Request for Information (RFI) NNH25ZDA006L to gauge interest in a partnership to organize a conference on lunar, planetary, and space science. Based on the response to this RFI, NASA gave an update on progress towards a future release of an Announcement for Partnership Proposals (AFPP) in February 2025. This email notice is to inform the community that, at this time, NASA has decided not to pursue an AFPP as described in the RFI and the "Questions and Answers for the LPSS RFI posted February 10, 2025 (pdf)". The Planetary Science Division is studying options for future support of community-led and community-driven

Today in examples of how obeying in advance gets you nothing.

LPI took down all our DEIA related abstracts to avoid pissing off NASA.

And NASA just killed LPSC.

I once tried to conduct a survey. I was unable to find an academic (post PhD) that is genuinely happy. I am still looking, please let me know if you find this person.

Yes...

Congrats! 🎉

Asteroid DJ from Gif - 3D model by Doug Ellison (@djellison) Data from GIF posted here : https://science.nasa.gov/image-article/nasas-lucy-spacecraft-images-asteroid-donaldjohanson/ credit NASA/Goddard/SwRI/Johns Hopkins APL - Asteroid DJ from Gif - 3D model by...

I'm amazed at what people do with the publicly available data of Lucy's encounter of asteroid (52246) Donaldjohanson!

Here is a 3D model made by Doug Ellison (@dougellison.bsky.social) from the images in the released GIF. Wonderful! 🤩

sketchfab.com/3d-models/as...

#PlanetSci #SciComm 🧪

Asteroids never cease to amaze! Look at all of those craters! ❤️

Why is academia so messed up? I just want to do my science without being constantly told how bad and useless my science is :( #justanotherrejection

Thank you, @jtuttlekeane.bsky.social for following my talk. It's truly an honor to have you illustrate it! The drawing is incredible! ❤️

A photograph of a sketch that I did summarizing Sabina Raducan’s talk from LPSC 2025. The sketch is in my conference notebook and is done on a roughly 5 x 7” page in pencil and pen. The sketch shows the Didymos and Dinkinesh asteroid and their satellites. these two asteroids are similar and have recently been explored by NASA and ESA missions. Didymos is in ellipsoidal moon with a nearby similarly ellipsoidal satellite Dimorphos. Dinkinesh is a top shaped asteroid shown in the middle with a bilobate moon, Selam, that orbits further away. For each of the different asteroid systems, I have drawn the different spacecraft that have flown by, into or will soon arrive, including the dart mission which impacted Dimorphos, along with the light LICIACube small sat; the Hers mission, which will arrive in 2026 with two small sets Milani and Juventas; and Lucy, which flew by Dinkinesh in 2023. The authors use the DART impact to calibrate their SPH simulations of the formation of asteroid moons via mergers of smaller satellites. They hypothesis that Selam formed from the merger of four moonlets. they point to the bilobafe shape and the ridges on both bodies as evidence, speculating with the ridges formed from mergers of satellites.

Sabina Raducan—The DART impact provided an opportunity to calibrate models of asteroid properties and dynamics. They used this to study how asteroid moons, like Selam (the moon of Dinkinesh observed by the Lucy mission), formed. #LPSC2025

Just in! 📸 The first images from yesterday’s #HeraMission flyby of Mars and its moon Deimos. 👇 www.esa.int/Space_Safety...

Basel, Switzerland

Real-time simulation of Hera’s Mars flyby YouTube video by ESA Extras

Our Hera spacecraft is flying past Mars! Check out this real-time simulation of what Hera is seeing right now, and tune in to the @esa.int YouTube channel tomorrow at 11:50 CET to see us present the real images!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=KILq...

🔔 SUCCESS! ✅ ESA's Hera Mission orchestrated a successful Mars flyby, using the red planet’s gravity to swing it towards its destination asteroids, while also testing its instruments. @esa.int will unveil flyby photos and debrief the operation tomorrow 👇https://www.youtube.com/live/cHiASEowrio

🛰️🔴 #HeraMission de l'ESA à 2,1 millions de km de #Mars, avant son survol rapproché le 12 mars

I'm sorry to hear that. It sounds though. I hope you're ok! :(

Uncertainty region of the asteroid 2024 YR4 shown in orange with the Earth shown in blue.

The probability that asteroid 2024 YR4 might impact Earth in 2032 has risen to 2.8%.

This means that it has surpassed the chance of impact briefly held by the much larger asteroid Apophis back in 2004.

@esaoperations.esa.int ☄️🔭

The #DARTMission had key contributions from people of many genders. Since it's an ESA #WomeinInScience post I'll specifically call out (a few of) our European women contributors like @agastro.bsky.social, @raducan.bsky.social, Naomi Murdoch, Julia de Leon, and LICIACube PI Elisabetta Dotto! 🔭 🛰️ 🧪