Related papers: Main-Belt Comet P/2012 T1 (PANSTARRS)
We present analysis of high spectral resolution NIR spectra of CO and H$_2$O in comet C/2009 P1 (Garradd) taken during its 2011-2012 apparition with the CSHELL instrument on NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF). We also present…
On 21 March 2013 high-resolution slit spectrographs of comet C/2011 L4 (Panstarrs), at the heliocentric distance r = 0.46 Astronomical Units (AU), were obtained at the Osservatorio Astronomico Campo dei Fiori, Italy. Emission lines of…
We present archival observations of Main-belt asteroid (248370) 2005 QN173 (also designated 433P) that demonstrate this recently discovered active asteroid (a body with a dynamically asteroidal orbit displaying a tail or coma) has had at…
Nine recently discovered long-period comets were observed by the Solar Wind Anisotropies (SWAN) Lyman-alpha all-sky camera on board the Solar and Heliosphere Observatory (SOHO) satellite during the period of 2013 to 2016. These were C/2012…
We present analysis of observations of CO2 and OI emission in three comets to measure the CO2 abundance and evaluate the possibility of employing observations of OI emission in comets as a proxy for CO2. We obtained NIR imaging sensitive to…
We present the analysis of the polarimetric and spectral data obtained for the dynamically new comet C/2012\,J1 (Catalina) when it was at a distance of 3.17~AU from the Sun. The observations were made at the prime focus of the 6-m BTA…
Although the optical cometary database is extensive, the radio database is limited. The 18-cm OH maser observations of comets allow us to determine (i) the production rate of OH ($Q_{\rm{OH}}$) and (ii) the water expansion velocity, for…
We imaged Comet 252P/2000 G1 (LINEAR) (hereafter 252P) with the Hubble Space Telescope and both 252P and P/2016 BA$_{14}$ (PanSTARRS) (hereafter BA$_{14}$) with the Discovery Channel Telescope in March and April 2016, surrounding its close…
1I/'Oumuamua was discovered by the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System (Pan-STARRS 1) on 19 October 2017. Unlike all previously discovered minor planets this object was determined to have eccentricity $e > 1.0$, suggesting…
We present spatially and spectrally-resolved observations of CH$_3$OH emission from comet C/2012 K1 (PanSTARRS) using The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) on 2014 June 28-29. Two-dimensional maps of the line-of-sight…
We report high-spectral resolution observations of comet 9P/Tempel 1 before, during and after the impact on 4 July 2005 UT of the Deep Impact spacecraft with the comet. These observations were obtained with the HIRES instrument on Keck 1.…
As an Oort Cloud object with a record small perihelion distance of 2.7 Rsun and discovered more than a year before its encounter with the Sun, comet C/2012 S1 is a subject of considerable scientific interest. Its activity along the orbit's…
Comets and asteroids have long captured human curiosity, and until recently, all documented examples belonged to our Solar System. That changed with the discovery of the first known interstellar object, 1I/2017 U1 ('Oumuamua), in 2017. Two…
The detection of Interstellar Objects passing through the Solar System offers the promise of constraining the physical and chemical processes involved in planetary formation in other extrasolar systems. While the effect of outgassing by…
It is well known that some Main Belt asteroids show comet-like features. A representative example is the first known Main Belt comet 133P/(7968) Elst-Pizarro. If the mechanisms causing this activity are too weak to develop visually evident…
We report new observations of the prototype main-belt comet (active asteroid) 133P/Elst-Pizarro taken at high angular resolution using the Hubble Space Telescope. The object has three main components; a) a point-like nucleus, b) a long,…
1I/2017 U1 (`Oumuamua), a recently discovered asteroid in a hyperbolic orbit, is likely the first macroscopic object of extrasolar origin identified in the solar system. Here, we present imaging and spectroscopic observations of…
We report results based on mid-infrared photometry of 5 active main belt objects (AMBOs) detected by the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) spacecraft. Four of these bodies, P/2010 R2 (La Sagra), 133P/Elst-Pizarro, (596) Scheila,…
An analysis is presented for the photometric data on comet C/2013 A1 (Siding Spring) from observations at a large heliocentric distance (near 4.1 AU). Comet C/2013 A1 (Siding Spring) displays intense activity despite the relatively large…
Observations of comet C/2016 R2 (PanSTARRS) have revealed exceptionally bright emission bands of N$_2^+$, the strongest ever observed in a comet spectrum. Alternatively, it appears to be poor in CN compared to other comets, and remarkably…