Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Sep 2006
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006dps....38.3705c&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #38, #37.05; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 38, p.551
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
2
Scientific paper
We report the first detection of cometary activity in Centaur 174P/Echeclus. Centaur (60558) 2000 EC98, its previous designation, was originally classified as an asteroidal body with no visible sign of coma or non-rotational photometric variations since its discovery by Spacewatch in 2000, despite characterization observations by a number of researchers. However, a massive cometary outburst was detected on 2005 December 30.50 UT, using the Palomar 5-m reflector and Large Format Camera. The object was subsequently assigned the designation 174P/Echeclus. Total magnitude of 174P was R = 15.0 at the time of the discovery of activity, while the magnitude of the bare nucleus was expected to be only R 20.0. The coma showed asymmetric structure with two major inner arcs and a well-shaped outer boundary, and extended 20 arc-seconds from the nucleus condensation, equivalent to a projected distance of 190,000 km at the comet's distance of 13.07 AU. The coma expanded with a projected velocity of 500-800 m/sec, which implies that even the outermost material in the coma left the nucleus only 3 to 4 days before the detection of the outburst. Color profiles as a function of radial distance from the nucleus showed a color gradient in the coma, and dust production rates of 300 - 600 kg/sec were measured in the BVRI filter passbands. Follow-up observations showed cometary activity continuing through until May, 2006. We also found evidence of cometary activity in pre-discovery images of 174P/Echeclus from the Spacewatch archive. This work was performed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory under contract with NASA, and was supported in part by the NASA Planetary Astronomy Program. YJC is grateful for the support of the NASA Post-doctoral Program.
Choi Young-Jun
Weissman Paul
No associations
LandOfFree
Discovery of Cometary Activity for Centaur 174P/Echeclus (60558) does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.
If you have personal experience with Discovery of Cometary Activity for Centaur 174P/Echeclus (60558), we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Discovery of Cometary Activity for Centaur 174P/Echeclus (60558) will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1000602