Related papers: Cometary Activity Discovered on a Distant Centaur:…
CO and CO$_2$ are the two dominant carbon-bearing molecules in comae and have major roles in driving activity. Their relative abundances also provide strong observational constraints to models of solar system formation and evolution but…
The asteroids are primitive solar system bodies which evolve both collisionally and through disruptions due to rapid rotation [1]. These processes can lead to the formation of binary asteroids [2-4] and to the release of dust [5], both…
The proposed CUBES spectrograph for ESO's Very Large Telescope will be an exceptionally powerful instrument for the study of comets. The gas coma of a comet contains a large number of emission features in the near-UV range covered by CUBES…
Centaurs with high orbital inclinations and perihelia (i > 60 degrees; q >= 15 au) are a small group of poorly understood minor planets that are predicted to enter the giant planet region of the Solar System from the inner Oort Cloud. As…
Centaurs, distinguished by their volatile-rich compositions, play a pivotal role in understanding the formation and evolution of the early solar system, as they represent remnants of the primordial material that populated the outer regions.…
We utilize serendipitous observations from the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) and the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) in addition to targeted follow-up observations from the Las Cumbres Observatory (LCO) and Liverpool…
The Oort cloud, a collection of icy bodies orbiting the sun at roughly $10^{3}$ AU to $10^{5}$ AU, is believed to be the source of the long-period comets observed in the inner solar system. Although its existence was predicted nearly 70…
It has been suggested that the comet-like activity of Main Belt Comets are due to the sublimation of sub-surface water-ice that has been exposed as a result of their surfaces being impacted by m-sized bodies. We have examined the viability…
We analyze a ~70 ksec Chandra ACIS-I exposure of the globular cluster Omega Centauri (NGC 5139). The ~17 amin x 17 amin field of view fully encompasses three core radii and almost twice the half-mass radius. We detect 180 sources to a…
Gas-phase molecules in cometary atmospheres (comae) originate primarily from (1) outgassing by the nucleus, (2) sublimation of icy grains in the near-nucleus coma, and (3) coma (photo-)chemical processes. However, the majority of cometary…
We present a photometric and dynamical study of comet C/2010 U3 (Boattini), which was seen active in prediscovery data as early as 2005 November at a new inbound record heliocentric distance $r_{\rm H} = 25.8$ au. Two outburst events around…
The population of the Kuiper Belt within 50 AU of the Sun has likely been severely depleted by gravitational perturbations from the giant planets, particularly Neptune. The density of Kuiper Belt objects is expected to be two orders of…
The Kepler space telescope observed over 15,000 stars for asteroseismic studies. Of these, 75% of dwarfs (and 8% of giants) were found to show anomalous behavior: such as suppressed oscillations (low amplitude) or no oscillations at all.…
29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 1 is a distant Centaur/comet, showing persistent CO-driven activity and frequent outbursts. We used the Herschel space observatory in 2010, 2011, and 2013 to observe H$_2$O and NH$_3$ and to image the dust coma.…
On 2018 November 18, coronagraphs onboard the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) captured an unrecognized comet crossing its fields of view. We identified this comet to be the minor planet (139359) 2001 ME1 whose previously unnoticed…
We report the discovery of activity emanating from (18916) 2000 OG44 (alternately designated 1977 SD), a minor planet previously reported to be both an extinct comet or an asteroid on a cometary orbit. We observed 2000 OG44 with a thin tail…
The size distribution and total mass of objects in the Oort Cloud have important implications to the theory of planets formation, including the properties of, and the processes taking place in the early solar system. We discuss the…
We present CCD VR_C observations of 6 distant comets located at heliocentric distances of 3.4--7.2 AU. Time-series data were obtained on three nights in July, 2000 covering 16 hours. Each comet was observed after the perihelion, when a…
Several late-type stars present activity cycles resembling the Solar one. This fact has been observed mostly in stars ranging from F to K, i.e., in stars with a radiative core and an outer convective layer. This work aims at studying…
We present the results of a wide-field survey for distant Sedna-like bodies in the outer solar system using the 1.2-m Samuel Oschin Telescope at Palomar Observatory. We searched ~12,000 square degrees down to a mean limiting magnitude of…