TY - JOUR
T1 - Main-belt Comet P/2012 T1 (PANSTARRS)
AU - Hsieh, Henry H.
AU - Kaluna, Heather M.
AU - Novaković, Bojan
AU - Yang, Bin
AU - Haghighipour, Nader
AU - Micheli, Marco
AU - Denneau, Larry
AU - Fitzsimmons, Alan
AU - Jedicke, Robert
AU - Kleyna, Jan
AU - Vereš, Peter
AU - Wainscoat, Richard J.
AU - Ansdell, Megan
AU - Elliott, Garrett T.
AU - Keane, Jacqueline V.
AU - Meech, Karen J.
AU - Moskovitz, Nicholas A.
AU - Riesen, Timm E.
AU - Sheppard, Scott S.
AU - Sonnett, Sarah
AU - Tholen, David J.
AU - Urban, Laurie
AU - Kaiser, Nick
AU - Chambers, K. C.
AU - Burgett, William S.
AU - Magnier, Eugene A.
AU - Morgan, Jeffrey S.
AU - Price, Paul A.
PY - 2013/7/1
Y1 - 2013/7/1
N2 - We present initial results from observations and numerical analyses
aimed at characterizing the main-belt comet P/2012 T1 (PANSTARRS).
Optical monitoring observations were made between 2012 October and 2013
February using the University of Hawaii 2.2 m telescope, the Keck I
telescope, the Baade and Clay Magellan telescopes, Faulkes Telescope
South, the Perkins Telescope at Lowell Observatory, and the Southern
Astrophysical Research Telescope. The object's intrinsic brightness
approximately doubles from the time of its discovery in early October
until mid-November and then decreases by ~60% between late December and
early February, similar to photometric behavior exhibited by several
other main-belt comets and unlike that exhibited by disrupted asteroid
(596) Scheila. We also used Keck to conduct spectroscopic searches for
CN emission as well as absorption at 0.7 μm that could indicate the
presence of hydrated minerals, finding an upper limit CN production rate
of Q CN <1.5 × 1023 mol
s-1, from which we infer a water production rate of
Q_H_2O100 Myr and is unlikely
to be a recently implanted interloper from the outer solar system, while
a search for potential asteroid family associations reveals that it is
dynamically linked to the ~155 Myr old Lixiaohua asteroid family.
Some of the data presented herein were obtained at the W. M. Keck
Observatory, which is operated as a scientific partnership among the
California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and
the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and made possible by
the generous financial support of the W. M. Keck Foundation, the
Magellan Telescopes located at Las Campanas Observatory, Chile, and the
Southern Astrophysical Research (SOAR) telescope, which is a joint
project of the Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia, e
Inovação (MCTI) da República Federativa do Brasil,
the U.S. National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO), the University
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), and Michigan State University
(MSU).
AB - We present initial results from observations and numerical analyses
aimed at characterizing the main-belt comet P/2012 T1 (PANSTARRS).
Optical monitoring observations were made between 2012 October and 2013
February using the University of Hawaii 2.2 m telescope, the Keck I
telescope, the Baade and Clay Magellan telescopes, Faulkes Telescope
South, the Perkins Telescope at Lowell Observatory, and the Southern
Astrophysical Research Telescope. The object's intrinsic brightness
approximately doubles from the time of its discovery in early October
until mid-November and then decreases by ~60% between late December and
early February, similar to photometric behavior exhibited by several
other main-belt comets and unlike that exhibited by disrupted asteroid
(596) Scheila. We also used Keck to conduct spectroscopic searches for
CN emission as well as absorption at 0.7 μm that could indicate the
presence of hydrated minerals, finding an upper limit CN production rate
of Q CN <1.5 × 1023 mol
s-1, from which we infer a water production rate of
Q_H_2O100 Myr and is unlikely
to be a recently implanted interloper from the outer solar system, while
a search for potential asteroid family associations reveals that it is
dynamically linked to the ~155 Myr old Lixiaohua asteroid family.
Some of the data presented herein were obtained at the W. M. Keck
Observatory, which is operated as a scientific partnership among the
California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and
the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and made possible by
the generous financial support of the W. M. Keck Foundation, the
Magellan Telescopes located at Las Campanas Observatory, Chile, and the
Southern Astrophysical Research (SOAR) telescope, which is a joint
project of the Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia, e
Inovação (MCTI) da República Federativa do Brasil,
the U.S. National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO), the University
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), and Michigan State University
(MSU).
KW - comets: general
KW - minor planets
KW - asteroids: general
M3 - Article
SN - 2041-8213
VL - 771
JO - Astrophysical Journal Letters
JF - Astrophysical Journal Letters
ER -