[BLOG] Some Tuesday links

[rfmcdonald]

• Bad Astronomer Phil Plait notes that asteroid 2006 VW139 is not just also a comet but a binary object, too, while Centauri Dreams also reports on 288P. (Multiple names, here.)


• D-Brief reports on a study intended to answer the question of whether or not our galaxy is normal.


• The Dragon's Gaze links to one paper suggesting TRAPPIST-1 might provide a threatening environment for its planets, links to another simulatingthe environments of TRAPPIST-1 planets to find d most likely to be Earth-like, and links to another finding that panspermia between the different planets of TRAPPIST-1 would be quite easy.


• At A Fistful of Euros, Douglas Merrill notes one study of AfD voters finding former non-voters contributed most to its vote surge.


• Hornet Stories notes an anti-gay "Straight Lives Matter" gathering in Australia that got only 30 protesters.


• The Map Room Blog links to a crowdsourced map showing earthquake damage in Mexico.


• The New APPS Blog considers Foucault and Marx and their thinking about spare time, and its reduction to capital.


• The NYR Daily looks at the recent German election and the rise of the AfD.


• The Planetary Society Blog looks at a proposal for a solar sail deployment on the new Deep Space Gateway station.


• Starts With A Bang's Ethan Siegel has a fairly critical, but I think ultimately hopeful, review of the first episodes of Star Trek: Discovery.


• The Volokh Conspiracy notes that the latest Trump travel ban has many of the same fatal flaws as the others.


• Arnold Zwicky notes the Instagram account "Boys With Plants."