I’m a huge space enthusiast and science enthusiast, but I am not an actual scientist. I’m an outsider looking in, drooling a little as I watch all those real scientists doing all that real science. But even as an outsider, I still sometimes get the chance to contribute in my own small way to the cause of science and space exploration.
Coming up in June of 2018, the Didymos Observer Workshop will be held in Prague, Czeck Republic. For those of you who don’t recognize the name, Didymos is a large asteroid with an orbit that sometimes brings it alarmingly close to Earth. It’s also one of those asteroids that has its own tiny moon, a moon which is informally known as “Didymoon.”
The Didymos Observer Workshop will be discussing the upcoming AIDA mission, a joint venture between NASA and ESA. According to the workshop’s website, “AIDA will be the first space experiment to demonstrate asteroid impact hazard mitigation by using a kinetic impactor to deflect an asteroid.” In other words, we’re going to whack Didymoon really hard to see how much we can change its orbit around Didymos.
Honestly, I feel a little bad for Didymoon, but the results of this experiment will help us prepare for the day when we need to smack an incoming asteroid off of a collision course with Earth. This is important for science, and someday it may save a whole lot of lives.
And I am really, really proud to say that one of my drawings is being used (with permission, of course) in the Didymos Observer Workshop’s promotional material. Click here to check it out!
Planet Pailly 
Wow! That’s huge. Congratulations!
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Thank you! Yeah, I’m really happy that some of my work can help promote, even in a small way, such an important area of space research.
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That’s fantastic, wow! Congratulations!
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Thanks! I’m pretty happy about it.
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James, that’s amazing news – not that it isn’t entirely your due. Congratulations!
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Thank you! That’s very kind.
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That is cool on so many levels! The science, what it means for the future, and your work incorporated in the event…you must be over the moon (so sorry, I couldn’t resist and… should I have said Didymoon?!)
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Thanks. I was pretty happy about this already, but your pun has made it even better!
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Phew! Never underestimate the power of a good pun, or the science behind it 😉
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Didy-me? Where is that there??? Did i just not see it?
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Didy-me is visible in both images. It’s there in the bottom right corner (it’s my signature).
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Anyway i really like the funny drawings…
And now i know the diffrence between the two,
Because i would type “Didymoon” on chrome and it would show
Didymos.
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That makes sense. Didymoon isn’t an official name, just a cute nickname.
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