We report on the catastrophic disintegration of P/2016 G1 (PANSTARRS), an active asteroid, in April 2016. Deep images over three months show that object is constituted by a central concentration of fragments surrounded by an elongated coma, and presents previously unreported sharp arc-like and a narrow linear features. The morphology and evolution of these characteristics independently point toward a brief event on 2016 March 6. The arc and the linear feature can be reproduced by large particles on a ring, moving at ~2.5 m/s. The expansion of the ring defines a cone with a ~40deg half-opening. We propose that G1 was hit by a small object which caused its (partial or total) disruption, and that the ring corresponds to large fragments ejected during the final stages of the crater formation.}
@article{arxiv.1907.00751,
title = {Disintegration of Active Asteroid P/2016 G1 (PANSTARRS)},
author = {Olivier R. Hainaut and Jan T. Kleyna and Karen J. Meech and Mark Boslough and Marco Micheli and Richard Wainscoat and Marielle Dela Cruz and Jacqueline V. Keane and Devendra K. Sahu and Bhuwan C. Bhatt},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1907.00751},
year = {2019}
}