Related papers: Disintegrating Asteroid P/2013 R3
Asteroid 2016 HO3, a small asteroid (<60 m) in super fast rotation state (~28 min), and is the target of China's Tianwen-2 asteroid sample-return mission. In this work, we investigate its structural stability using an advanced…
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…
Main-belt asteroid (6478) Gault was observed to show cometary features in early 2019. To investigate the cause, we conducted {\it BVR} observations at Xingming Observatory, China, from 2019 January to April. The two tails were formed around…
We present a study of C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS) using Sloan $gri$ observations from mid-January to early April 2020. During this timespan, the comet brightened with a growth in the effective cross-section of $\left(2.0 \pm 0.1 \right) \times…
Comet 133P/Elst-Pizarro is the first-known and currently best-characterised member of the main-belt comets, a recently-identified class of objects that exhibit cometary activity but which are dynamically indistinguishable from main-belt…
We discuss measurements of the properties of about 10,000 asteroids detected in 500 deg2 of sky in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) commissioning data. The moving objects are detected in the magnitude range 14 < r < 21.5, with a baseline…
We observed 34 comets using the 24 micron camera on the Spitzer Space Telescope. Each image contains the nucleus and covers at least 10^6 km of each comet's orbit. Debris trails due to mm-sized or larger particles were found along the…
We observed asteroid (596) Scheila and its ejecta cloud using the Swift UV-optical telescope. We obtained photometry of the nucleus and the ejecta, and for the first time measured the asteroid's reflection spectrum between 290 - 500 nm. Our…
We have performed detailed dynamical modeling of the structure of a faint dust band observed in coadded IRAS data at an ecliptic latitude of 17$^{\circ}$ that convincingly demonstrates that it is the result of a relatively recent…
The cumulative effects of weak resonant and secular perturbations by the major planets produce chaotic behavior of asteroids on long timescales. Dynamical chaos is the dominant loss mechanism for asteroids with diameters D > 10 km in the…
We present an observational and dynamical study of newly discovered main-belt comet 313P/Gibbs. We find that the object is clearly active both in observations obtained in 2014 and in precovery observations obtained in 2003 by the Sloan…
We present our results for comet (ISON). Our results were obtained with amateur telescopes observing from the ground, before and after the comet had passed conjunction with the Sun in August 2013. We measured a mean radius of 830 +- 245 m,…
The binary asteroid 288P/(300163) is unusual both for its combination of wide-separation and high mass ratio and for its comet-like activity. It is not currently known whether there is a causal connection between the activity and the…
P/2010 A2 is an object on an asteroidal orbit that was observed to have an extended tail or debris trail in January 2010. In this work, we fit the outburst of P/2010 A2 with a conical burst model, and verify previous suspicions that this…
We present mid-infrared spectra and images from the GEMINI-N (+Michelle) observations of fragments SW3-[B] and SW3-[C] of the ecliptic (Jupiter Family) comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 pre-perihelion. We observed fragment B soon after an…
A considerable amount of information regarding the processes that occurred during the accretion of the early planetesimals is still present among the small bodies of our solar system. A review of our current knowledge of the density of…
We combine ground- and space-based observations of long-period comet C/2021 O3 (Panstarrs) (perihelion distance 0.287 au) in order to investigate its reported near-perihelion destruction. Pre-perihelion photometric observations show a…
We present lightcurve observations and their multiband photometry for near-Earth object (NEO) 2011 XA3. The lightcurve has shown a periodicity of 0.0304 +- 0.0003 day (= 43.8 +- 0.4 min). The fast rotation shows that 2011 XA3 is in a state…
There is a group of newly recognized asteroids in the main belt that are exhibiting cometary characteristics. We will call them Asteroidal Belt Comets or ABCs. An analysis of their orbital and physical properties has resulted in the…
Close to the Roche radius of a white dwarf (WD), an asteroid on a circular orbit sheds material that then adopts a very similar orbit. Observations of the resulting debris show a periodic behavior and changes in flux on short timescales,…