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Register a new userEpisodic Ejection from Active Asteroid 311P/PANSTARRS
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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 by a single, reddish nucleus of absolute magnitude $H ge$ 18.98$pm$0.10, corresponding to an equal-area sphere of radius $le$200$pm$20 m (for assumed geometric albedo 0.29$pm$0.09). We set an upper limit to the radii of possible companion nuclei at $sim$10 m. The nucleus ejected debris in nine discrete episodes, spread irregularly over a nine month interval, each time forming a distinct tail. Particles in the tails range from about 10 $mu$m to at least 80 mm in radius, and were ejected at speeds $<$1 m s$^{-1}$. The ratio of the total ejected dust mass to the nucleus mass is $sim$3$times$10$^{-5}$, corresponding to a global surface layer $sim$2 mm thick, or to a deeper layer covering a smaller fraction of the surface. The observations are incompatible with an origin of the activity by impact or by the sublimation of entrapped ice. This object appears to be shedding its regolith by rotational (presumably YORP-driven) instability. Long-term fading of the photometry (months) is attributed to gradual dissipation of near-nucleus dust. Photometric variations on short timescales ($<$0.7 hr) are probably caused by fast rotation of the nucleus. However, because of limited time coverage and dilution of the nucleus signal by near-nucleus dust, we have not been able to determine the rotation period.
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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 product of localized, equator-ward landsliding from the surface of an asteroid rotating at the brink of instability. We obtained new Hubble Space Telescope observations to directly measure the nucleus and to search for evidence of its rapid rotation. However, instead of providing photometric evidence for rapid nucleus rotation, our data set a lower limit to the lightcurve period, $P ge$ 5.4 hour. The dominant feature of the lightcurve is a V-shaped minimum, $sim$0.3 magnitudes deep, that is suggestive of an eclipsing binary. Under this interpretation, the time-series data are consistent with a secondary/primary mass ratio, $m_s/m_p sim$ 1:6, a ratio of separation/primary radius, $r/r_p sim$ 4 and an orbit period $sim$0.8 days. These properties lie within the range of other asteroid binaries that are thought to be formed by rotational breakup. While the lightcurve period is long, centripetal dust ejection is still possible if one or both components rotates rapidly ($lesssim$ 2 hour) and has a small lightcurve variation because of azimuthal symmetry. Indeed, radar observations of asteroids in critical rotation reveal muffin-shaped morphologies which are closely azimuthally symmetric and which show minimal lightcurves. Our data are consistent with 311P being a close binary in which one or both components rotates near the centripetal limit. The mass loss in 2013 suggests that breakup occurred recently and could even be on-going. A search for fragments that might have been recently ejected beyond the Hill sphere reveals none larger than effective radius $r_e sim$ 10 m.
We present deep imaging observations, orbital dynamics, and dust tail model analyses of the double-component asteroid P/2016 J1 (J1-A and J1-B). The observations were acquired at the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC) and the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) from mid March to late July, 2016. A statistical analysis of backward-in-time integrations of the orbits of a large sample of clone objects of P/2016 J1-A and J1-B shows that the minimum separation between them occurred most likely $sim$2300 days prior to the current perihelion passage, i.e., during the previous orbit near perihelion. This closest approach was probably linked to a fragmentation event of their parent body. Monte Carlo dust tail models show that those two components became active simultaneously $sim$250 days before the current perihelion, with comparable maximum loss rates of $sim$0.7 kg s$^{-1}$ and $sim$0.5 kg s$^{-1}$, and total ejected masses of 8$times$10$^{6}$ kg and 6$times$10$^{6}$ kg for fragments J1-A and J1-B, respectively. In consequence, the fragmentation event and the present dust activity are unrelated. The simultaneous activation times of the two components and the fact that the activity lasted 6 to 9 months or longer, strongly indicate ice sublimation as the most likely mechanism involved in the dust emission process.
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 event with onset about $mathop{350}_{-30}^{+10}$ days before perihelion (i.e., around 10th February, 2016), starting sharply and decreasing with a $mathop{24}_{-7}^{+10}$ days (Half-width at half-maximum, HWHM). The results of the modeling imply the emission of $sim$1.7$times$10$^7$ kg of dust, if composed of particles of 1 micrometer to 1 cm in radius, distributed following a power-law of index --3, and having a geometric albedo of 0.15. A detailed fitting of a conspicuous westward feature in the head of the comet-like object indicates that a significant fraction of the dust was ejected along a privileged direction right at the beginning of the event, which suggests that the parent body has possibly suffered an impact followed by a partial or total disruption. From the limiting magnitude reachable with the instrumental setup, and assuming a geometric albedo of 0.15 for the parent body, an upper limit for the size of possible fragment debris of $sim$50 m in radius is derived.
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 be linked to an impulsive event occurring some $pm$10 days around perihelion, probably due to a collision or a rotational disruption. Its orbit is stable over 100 Myr timescales. Dust tail models reveal a short-term burst producing (2.0$pm$0.7)$times$10$^6$ kg of dust for maximum particle radius rmax=1 cm. The spectrum of P/2019 A4 is featureless, and slightly redder than the Sun. P/2021 A5 was active $sim$50 days after perihelion, lasting $sim$5 to $sim$60 days, and ejecting (8$pm$2)$times$10$^6$ kg of dust for rmax=1 cm. The orbital simulations show that a few percent of dynamical clones of P/2021 A5 are unstable on 20-50 Myr timescales. Thus, P/2021 A5 might be an implanted object from the JFC region or beyond. These facts point to water ice sublimation as the activation mechanism. This object also displays a featureless spectrum, but slightly bluer than the Sun. Nuclei sizes are estimated in the few hundred meters range for both asteroids. Particle ejection speeds ($sim$0.2 m/s) are consistent with escape speeds from those small-sized objects.
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 2018 October 26--November 08, and 2018 December 29--2019 January 08, respectively, and consisted of dust grains of $gtrsim$20 $mu$m to 3 mm in radius ejected at a speed of $0.15 pm 0.05$ m s$^{-1}$ and following a broken power-law size distribution bending at grain radius $sim$70 $mu$m (bulk density 1 g cm$^{-3}$ assumed). The total mass of dust within a $10^4$ km-radius aperture around Gault declined from $sim$$9 times 10^6$ kg since 2019 January at a rate of $2.28 pm 0.07$ kg s$^{-1}$, but temporarily surged around 2019 March 25, because Earth thence crossed the orbital plane of Gault, within which the ejected dust was mainly distributed. No statistically significant colour or short-term lightcurve variation was seen. Nonetheless we argue that Gault is currently subjected to rotational instability. Using the available astrometry, we did not detect any nongravitational acceleration in the orbital motion of Gault.
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