Main Belt Comets: Ice in the Inner Solar System

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The main-belt comets (MBCs) (133P/Elst-Pizarro, P/2005 U1 (Read), and 176P/Linear) are defined by being simultaneously cometary in appearance and dynamically asteroidal, i.e. with low-inclination, nearly circular orbits in the main asteroid belt and Tisserand parameter values of TJ>3. Their orbits appear stable, are very unlikely to have resulted from the capture of comets from the other known (Jupiter family, Halley family, or long period) populations, and are probably primordial. Besides further blurring classical distinctions between asteroids and comets, the existence of the MBCs lends new support to the idea that main-belt objects could have been a major source of terrestrial water and offers new opportunities to investigate that idea. We will discuss the observations that led to the identification of this new class, the properties of the currently known MBCs, and the implications of this new find for future studies of small solar system bodies. This work has been published in Hsieh & Jewitt (2006), available at
http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/ hsieh/mbcs.html.

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