Related papers: The Return of Activity in Main-Belt Comet 133P/Els…

We study the activity evolution of the main-belt comet 324P/La Sagra over time and the properties of its emitted dust. We performed aperture photometry on images taken by a wide range of telescopes at optical and thermal infrared…

Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko was selected in 2003 as the new target of the Rosetta mission. It has since been the subject of a detailed campaign of observations to characterise its nucleus and activity. Here we present previously…

Through photometry and spectroscopy, we studied the evolution of the activity and chemical composition of comet 67P during its 2025 and 2021 perihelion passages and of comet 103P during its 2010 and 2023 passages. For each comet, we aim to…

P/2013 P5 PANSTARRS was discovered in Aug. 2013, displaying a cometary tail, but with orbital elements typical for a member of the inner asteroid Main Belt. We monitored the object from 2013 Aug. 30 until Oct. 05 using the CFHT, NTT, CA…

Dynamically different groups of comets and active asteroids with orbits at 2 - 5 a. u. show dust activity in varying degrees and forms. Photometric study and comparison of physical parameters can help to classify mechanisms and nature of…

Main Belt comets represent a recently discovered class of objects. They are quite intriguing because, while having a Tisserand invariant value higher than 3, are showing cometary activity. We study the activity of the Main Belt comets…

We present JWST NIRSpec and NIRCam observations of 457P/Lemmon-PANSTARRS, a main-belt comet that displayed activity around its 2020 perihelion and that was observed to regain activity during its 2024 perihelion by a ground-based observing…

We present a study of the newly-discovered main-belt comet P/2008 R1 (Garradd), an object with the dynamical characteristics of an asteroid and the physical characteristics of a comet. Photometry sets a limit to the effective radius of the…

We report the detection of water vapor associated with main-belt comet 358P/PANSTARRS on UT 2024 January 8-9 using the NIRSPEC instrument aboard JWST. We derive a water production rate of Q(H2O)=(5.0+/-0.2)x10^25 molecules/s, marking only…

We present observations of main-belt comet 259P/Garradd from four months prior to its 2017 perihelion passage to five months after perihelion using the Gemini North and South telescopes. The object was confirmed to be active during this…

We present the visible spectrum of MBCs 133P/Elst-Pizarro and 176P/LINEAR, as well as three Themis family asteroids: (62) Erato, (379), Huenna and (383) Janina, obtained in 2007 using three telescopes at "El Roque de los Muchachos"'…

We report observations of nine MBCs or candidate MBCs, most of which were obtained when the targets were apparently inactive. We find effective nucleus radii (assuming albedos of p_V=0.05+/-0.02) of r_n=(0.24+/-0.05) km for 238P/Read,…

The study of active asteroids has attracted a great deal of interest in recent years since the recognition of main-belt comets (which orbit in the main asteroid belt, but exhibit comet-like activity due to the sublimation of volatile ices)…

We present observations of comet-like main-belt object P/2010 R2 (La Sagra) obtained by Pan-STARRS 1 and the Faulkes Telescope-North on Haleakala in Hawaii, the University of Hawaii 2.2 m, Gemini-North, and Keck I telescopes on Mauna Kea,…

We present recent observations of main-belt comet P/2010 R2 (La Sagra) obtained using the Gemini North telescope on five nights in late 2011 and early 2013 during portions of the object's orbit when dust emission was expected to be minimal…

We aim to study the dust ejected by main-belt comet (MBC) (300163) 2006 VW139 to obtain information on the ejection mechanism and the spectral properties of the object, to see if they are compatible with those of "normal" comets. Images in…

Main belt comets (MBCs) are a peculiar class of volatile-containing objects with comet-like morphology and asteroid-like orbits. However, MBCs are challenging targets to study remotely due to their small sizes and the relatively large…

We present the physical and dynamical properties of the recently discovered active asteroid (248370) 2005 QN173 (aka 433P). From our observations, we derived two possible rotation period solutions of 2.7 and 4.1 hours. The corresponding…

We present initial results from observations and numerical analyses aimed at characterizing main-belt comet P/2012 T1 (PANSTARRS). Optical monitoring observations were made between October 2012 and February 2013 using the University of…

We present imaging and spectroscopic data on comet 19P/Borrelly that were obtained around the time of the Deep Space 1 encounter and in subsequent months. In the four months after perihelion, the comet showed a strong primary (sunward) jet…