Presentations by AOP staff and students during the 2026 ACM meeting
AOP students and staff gave good accounts of themselves at the 15th Asteroids Comets Meteors (ACM) conference that took place between the 6th and 10th of July in the historical city of Poznań in Poland. Held once every three years, the ACM is the largest international meeting for scientists researching the “little guys” of the solar system: asteroids, comets and dust. This year the meeting attracted 600+ participants from 48 countries, with special treats including Kleť Observatory’s “Asteroid Car” and a model of asteroid Bennu displayed in front of the registration desk.
Asteroid Car at the 2026 ACM (front view)
Asteroid Car at ACM (side view)
Model of asteroid Bennu at the 2026 ACM
The four AOP presentations reflected the breadth and depth of frontline solar system research at Armagh. Emily Frank showed how polarized sunlight reflecting off asteroids can be used as a tool to understand their composition and ultimately help humanity defend against objects on a collision course with Earth. Staff astronomer Tolis Christou used orbital dynamics models to link a group of meteors (“shooting stars”) observed by amateur and professional astronomers to the ongoing disintegration of a comet nucleus in space over thousands of years. Likewise, Andrew Marshall-Lee used advanced artificial intelligence algorithms to turn back the clock on the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, reconstructing the billion-yr old record of titanic collisions between hundred-km asteroids. Scientists pick up the fragments of those collisions when they arrive on Earth as meteorites (eg the 1969 Bovedy fall). Last but not least, Rok Nežič shared his insight on the future opportunities and challenges in effective science communication, borne out of the unique track record of public education & outreach co-existing with scientific research at AOP.
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