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Related papers: Episodically Active Asteroid 6478 Gault

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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…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2015-06-11 R. Stevenson , E. A. Kramer , J. M. Bauer , J. R. Masiero , A. K. Mainzer

Hubble Space Telescope observations of main-belt comet P/2013 P5 reveal an extraordinary system of six dust tails that distinguish this object from any other. Observations two weeks apart show dramatic morphological change in the tails…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2015-06-17 David Jewitt , Jessica Agarwal , Harold Weaver , Max Mutchler , Stephen Larson

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…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2019-01-30 David Jewitt , Yoonyoung Kim , Jayadev Rajagopal , Susan Ridgway , Ralf Kotulla , Wilson Liu , Max Mutchler , Jing Li , Harold Weaver , Stephen Larson

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…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2021-12-08 David Jewitt , Jing Li , Yoonyoung Kim

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…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2023-10-17 Bin Liu , Xiaodong Liu , Xiaoyu Jia , Fei Li , Yuhui Zhao , LiangLiang Yu

We present observations and dust tail models of activated asteroid P/2015 X6 from deep imaging data acquired at the 10.4m Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC) from mid-December 2015 to late January 2016. The results of the modeling indicate that…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2016-08-03 F. Moreno , J. Licandro , A. Cabrera-Lavers , F. J. Pozuelos

From two Active Asteroid (AA) known in 1979 we have advanced to 37 members at the beginning of 2019. More surprisingly, in the first three months of 2019 five new members were added to the list, one of them, 6478 Gault, with a curious, out…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2019-07-03 I. Ferrín , C. Fornari , A. Acosta

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…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2015-06-18 F. Moreno. , J. Licandro , C. Álvarez-Iglesias , A. Cabrera-Lavers , F. Pozuelos

Main-belt asteroid 2010 LH$_{15}$ has been classified as an active asteroid, based on the recent discovery of dust activity from the archival images observed in 2010 and 2019. In this study, we perform measurements and dynamical modeling of…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2025-07-22 Bin Liu , Cunhui Li , Zhongcheng Mu , Xiaodong Liu

We report on the characterisation of the dust activity and dynamical evolution of two faint active asteroids, P/2019 A4, and P/2021 A5, observed with the 10.4m GTC using both imaging and spectroscopy. Asteroid P/2019 A4 activity is found to…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2021-07-07 Fernando Moreno , Javier Licandro , Antonio Cabrera-Lavers , David Morate , Daniel Guirado

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…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2018-05-23 David Jewitt , Harold Weaver , Max Mutchler , Jing Li , Jessica Agarwal , Stephen Larson

We present observations and an interpretative model of the dust environment of Main-Belt Comet P/2010 F5 (Gibbs). The narrow dust trails observed can be interpreted unequivocally as an impulsive event that took place around 2011 July 1st…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2015-06-12 Fernando Moreno , Javier Licandro , Antonio Cabrera-Lavers

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…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2016-09-21 David Jewitt , Jessica Agarwal , Harold Weaver , Max Mutchler , Jing Li , Stephen Larson

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…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2015-06-17 F. J. Pozuelos , A. Cabrera-Lavers , J. Licandro , F. Moreno

We report the discovery of a comet-like tail on asteroid (3200) Phaethon when imaged at optical wavelengths near perihelion. In both 2009 and 2012, the tail appears >=350" (2.5x10^8 m) in length and extends approximately in the projected…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2015-06-16 David Jewitt , Jing Li , Jessica Agarwal

The main-belt comets occupy dynamically asteroidal orbits in the main asteroid belt. Here we present physical observations of the second-known member of this population, P/2005 U1 (Read), which showed vigorous cometary activity from 2005…

Astrophysics · Physics 2009-11-13 Henry H. Hsieh , David Jewitt , Masateru Ishiguro

We examine the motions of large fragments at the head of the dust tail of active asteroid P/2010 A2. In previous work we showed that these fragments were ejected from the primary nucleus in early 2009, either following a hypervelocity…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2015-06-15 Jessica Agarwal , David Jewitt , Harold Weaver

We present the results of observations of asteroid (248370) QN$_{173}$ obtained during July 2021 - January 2022 with three telescopes. Our analysis revealed the presence of the dust tail for about half of a year. The direct images of the…

We present deep imaging observations of activated asteroid P/2016 G1 (PANSTARRS) using the 10.4m Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC) from late April to early June 2016. The images are best interpreted as the result of a relatively short-duration…

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics · Physics 2016-08-03 Fernando Moreno , Javier Licandro , Antonio Cabrera-Lavers , Francisco J. Pozuelos

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…