Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Sep 2009
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009dps....41.3206h&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #41, #32.06
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
The Themis asteroid family in the outer asteroid belt is thought to be the result of the collisional disruption of a 400-km parent asteroid about 2.5 Gyr ago. This family has recently become of particular interest following the identification of the main-belt comets (MBCs; observationally cometary bodies that are dynamically indistinguishable from main-belt asteroids), given that two (133P/Elst-Pizarro and 176P/LINEAR) of the four currently known MBCs are family members, and a third MBC (P/2005 U1 (Read)) also exhibits striking dynamical similarities. The small sizes of all four currently known MBCs [1,2,3] as well as their present-day volatility, however, suggests that they may not actually be primordial members of the Themis family and are instead fragments of more recent disruptions, possibly of other larger Themis members [4].
As part of an ongoing effort to understand the MBCs in the context of their surroundings and also to search for observational clues pertaining to the origins of MBC-sized Themis asteroids, I have conducted optical observations, obtained using BVRI filters at the University of Hawai`i 2.2-m and Subaru 8.2-m telescopes on Mauna Kea, of 59 kilometer-scale (HV>14.4) Themis asteroids. I will present color data from this survey, and compare them with colors observed for MBC nuclei, larger Themis asteroids, and other small solar system body populations of note, and discuss the implications of these results for our understanding of the origin and nature of MBC activity and for the potential development of criteria for identifying other MBCs even in the absence of detectable cometary activity.
This work was supported by a NASA Planetary Astronomy Grant (via David Jewitt) and by the United Kingdom's Science and Technology Facilities Council through fellowship grant ST/F011016/1.
References: [1] 2009, AJ 137, 157; [2] 2009, ApJL 694, 111; [3] 2009, AJ 137, 4313; [4] 2009, A&A, submitted
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