Observational Characterization of Main-belt Comet and Candidate Main-belt Comet Nuclei

Henry H. Hsieh; Marco Micheli; Michael S. P. Kelley; Matthew M. Knight; Nicholas A. Moskovitz; Jana Pittichová; Scott S. Sheppard; Audrey Thirouin; Chadwick A. Trujillo; Richard J. Wainscoat; Robert J. Weryk; Quanzhi Ye

doi:10.3847/PSJ/acbdfe

The Planetary Science Journal (Jan 2023)

Observational Characterization of Main-belt Comet and Candidate Main-belt Comet Nuclei

Henry H. Hsieh,
Marco Micheli,
Michael S. P. Kelley,
Matthew M. Knight,
Nicholas A. Moskovitz,
Jana Pittichová,
Scott S. Sheppard,
Audrey Thirouin,
Chadwick A. Trujillo,
Richard J. Wainscoat,
Robert J. Weryk,
Quanzhi Ye

Affiliations

Henry H. Hsieh: ORCiD; Planetary Science Institute , 1700 East Fort Lowell Rd., Suite 106, Tucson, AZ 85719, USA ; [email protected]; Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics , Academia Sinica, P.O. Box 23-141, Taipei 10617, Taiwan
Marco Micheli: ORCiD; ESA PDO NEO Coordination Centre , Largo Galileo Galilei, 1, I-00044 Frascati (RM), Italy
Michael S. P. Kelley: ORCiD; Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland , 1113 Physical Sciences Complex, Building 415, College Park, MD 20742, USA
Matthew M. Knight: ORCiD; Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland , 1113 Physical Sciences Complex, Building 415, College Park, MD 20742, USA; Physics Department, U.S. Naval Academy , 572C Holloway Road, Annapolis, MD 21402, USA
Nicholas A. Moskovitz: ORCiD; Lowell Observatory , 1400 W. Mars Hill Road, Flagstaff, AZ 86001, USA
Jana Pittichová: ORCiD; Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology , 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA
Scott S. Sheppard: ORCiD; Earth and Planets Laboratory, Carnegie Institution for Science , 5241 Broad Branch Road NW, Washington, DC 20015, USA
Audrey Thirouin: ORCiD; Lowell Observatory , 1400 W. Mars Hill Road, Flagstaff, AZ 86001, USA
Chadwick A. Trujillo: ORCiD; Department of Astronomy and Planetary Science, Northern Arizona University , Flagstaff, AZ 86011, USA
Richard J. Wainscoat: ORCiD; Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii , 2680 Woodlawn Drive, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA
Robert J. Weryk: ORCiD; Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii , 2680 Woodlawn Drive, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA; Physics and Astronomy, The University of Western Ontario , 1151 Richmond Street, London, ON, N6A 3K7, Canada
Quanzhi Ye: ORCiD; Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland , 1113 Physical Sciences Complex, Building 415, College Park, MD 20742, USA; Center for Space Physics, Boston University , 725 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA 02215, USA

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3847/PSJ/acbdfe
Journal volume & issue: Vol. 4, no. 3
p. 43

Abstract

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We report observations of nine main-belt comets (MBCs) or candidate MBCs, most of which were obtained when the targets were apparently inactive. We find effective nucleus radii (assuming albedos of p _V = 0.05 ± 0.02) of r _n = (0.24 ± 0.05) km for 238P/Read, r _n = (0.9 ± 0.2) km for 313P/Gibbs, r _n = (0.6 ± 0.1) km for 324P/La Sagra, r _n = (1.0 ± 0.2) km for 426P/PANSTARRS, r _n = (0.5 ± 0.1) km for 427P/ATLAS, r _n 80% have r _n ≤ 1.0 km, pointing to an apparent physical preference toward small MBCs, where we suggest that Yarkovsky–O’Keefe–Radzievskii–Paddack spin-up may play a significant role in triggering and/or facilitating MBC activity.

Published in The Planetary Science Journal

ISSN: 2632-3338 (Online)
Publisher: IOP Publishing
Country of publisher: United Kingdom
LCC subjects: Science: Astronomy
Website: https://iopscience.iop.org/journal/2632-3338

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