Related papers: New Active Asteroid 313P/Gibbs
We present Hubble Space Telescope observations of active asteroid 313P/Gibbs (formerly P/2014 S4) taken over the five month interval from 2014 October to 2015 March. This object has been recurrently active near perihelion (at 2.4 AU) in two…
We describe active asteroid 331P/Gibbs (2012 F5) using archival Hubble Space Telescope data taken between 2015 and 2018. 331P is an outer main-belt active asteroid with a long-lived debris trail that formed in 2011. Embedded in the debris…
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…
While having a comet-like appearance, P/2012 F5 (Gibbs) has an orbit native to the Main Asteroid Belt, and physically is a km-sized asteroid which recently (mid 2011) experienced an impulsive mass ejection event. Here we report new…
We examine the development of the active asteroid 311P/PANSTARRS (formerly, 2013 P5) in the period from 2013 September to 2014 February using high resolution images from the Hubble Space Telescope. This multi-tailed object is characterized…
In this work we characterize the recently discovered active main belt object P/2012 F5 (Gibbs), which was discovered with a dust trail > 7' in length in the outer main belt, 7 months prior to aphelion. We use optical imaging obtained on UT…
We present observations carried out using the 10.4 m Gran Telescopio Canarias and an interpretative model of the dust environment of activated asteroid 313P/Gibbs. We discuss three different models relating to different values of the dust…
The unique inner-belt asteroid 311P/PANSTARRS (formerly P/2013 P5) is notable for its sporadic, comet-like ejection of dust in nine distinct epochs spread over $\sim$250 days in 2013. This curious behavior has been interpreted as the…
Active asteroids show (typically transient) cometary activity, driven by a range of processes. A sub-set, sometimes called main-belt comets, may be driven by sublimation and so could be useful for tracing the present-day distribution of…
Observations of active asteroid P/2017 S5 when near perihelion reveal the ejection of large (0.1 to 10 mm) particles at 0.2 to 2 m/s speeds, with estimated mass-loss rates of a few kg/s. The protracted nature of the mass loss (continuous…
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,…
Hubble Space Telescope observations of active asteroid 324P/La Sagra near perihelion show continued mass loss consistent with the sublimation of near-surface ice. Isophotes of the coma measured from a vantage point below the orbital plane…
The dust emission from active asteroids is likely driven by collisions, fast rotation, sublimation of embedded ice, and combinations of these. Characterising these processes leads to a better understanding of their respective influence on…
We present observations and models of the dust environment of activated asteroid P/2013 P5 (PANSTARRS). The object displayed a complex morphology during the observations, with the presence of multiple tails. We combined our own…
The active asteroid 311P is one of the two targets of a planned Chinese asteroid exploration mission Tianwen-2. During 2013, 311P experienced several mass-loss events and exhibited multiple comet-like tails. Here we analyze the morphology…
We present Hubble Space Telescope and Keck 10 meter telescope observations of active asteroid 288P/300163 (2006 VW139) taken to examine ejected dust. The nucleus is a C-type object with absolute magnitude $H_V$ = 17.0$\pm$0.1 and estimated…
133P/Elst-Pizarro is the firstly recognized main-belt comet, but we still know little about its nucleus. Firstly we use mid-infrared data of Spitzer-MIPS, Spitzer-IRS and WISE to estimate its effective diameter $D_{\rm…
We present a dynamical analysis of the fragmented active asteroid 331P/Gibbs. Using archival images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope from 2015 to 2018, we measured the astrometry of the primary and the three brightest (presumably the…
We present Hubble Space Telescope observations of active asteroid P/2020 O1 taken to examine its development for a year after perihelion. We find that the mass loss peaks <~1 kg/s in 2020 August and then declines to nearly zero over four…
We present an analysis of new and published data on P/2013 R3, the first asteroid detected while disintegrating. Thirteen discrete components are measured in the interval between UT 2013 October 01 and 2014 February 13. We determine a mean,…