Pod Save America Hosts Call on Democrats to Cut All Israel Military Aid, No Longer Accept AIPAC Funding
Jews, Israelis Targeted in Austria Amid Surge in Antisemitic Incidents; Local Jewish Community Calls for Action
‘All of Our Strength’: Over 1,000 Pro-Israel Activists Gather in DC for Solidarity Conference
‘Devastated’: Wesley LePatner, Killed in Manhattan Mass Shooting, Was a Jewish Communal, Philanthropic Leader
Sen. Angus King Vows to No Longer Vote for Israel Military Aid Until Gaza Conditions Improve
Europe Won’t Pressure Israel to ‘Commit Suicide’ Amid Gaza Backlash, Palestinian State Push, Says Israeli FM
Israel’s National Soccer Coach Attacked in Athens Before Soccer Fans Chant ‘F–K Israel, Free Palestine’ at Match
New York Judge Sentences Neo-Nazi to 5 Years for Livestreaming Bomb Threats Against Jewish Hospitals
US Pressures Lebanon to Issue Cabinet Decision to Disarm Hezbollah Before Talks Continue
UK Plans to Recognize Palestinian State in September Unless Israel Meets Conditions, Starmer Says
Israel’s Weizmann Institute Joins NASA Planetary Defense Exercise
Error: Contact form not found.
by JNS.org
The Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel. Photo: Avi Deror via Wikimedia Commons.
JNS.org – Representatives from the Weizmann Institute’s Physics Faculty in Rehovot joined more than 100 astronomers worldwide in a recent NASA planetary defense exercise.
As part of the exercise, David Polishook, a member of the faculty and also director of Weizmann’s observatory, deleted a previously detected “near earth object” asteroid from the asteroid database, to see if it would be “rediscovered” by observatories, as part of the exercise.
Polishook also led the spectral measurements made by the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) in Hawaii, to classify the asteroid’s composition and mass, Weizmann said in a statement. He also made observations from the Wise Observatory near Mitzpe Ramon, Israel, to measure another asteroid’s shape and rotation rate.
A statement by NASA on Tuesday said that the exercise was coordinated by the International Asteroid Warning Network and NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office.
“The exercise confirmed that, from initial detection to follow-up characterization, the international planetary defense community can act swiftly to identify and assess the hazard posed by a new near-Earth asteroid discovery,” said NASA.
