Six Years of Sustained Activity in (6478) Gault

Colin Orion Chandler; Jay Kueny; Annika Gustafsson; Chadwick A. Trujillo; Tyler D. Robinson; David E. Trilling

doi:10.3847/2041-8213/ab1aaa

Six Years of Sustained Activity in (6478) Gault

Colin Orion Chandler, Jay Kueny, Annika Gustafsson, Chadwick A. Trujillo, Tyler D. Robinson, David E. Trilling

Astronomy and Planetary Sciences

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

28 Scopus citations

Abstract

We present archival observations demonstrating that main belt asteroid (6478) Gault has an extensive history of comet-like activity. Outbursts have taken place during multiple epochs since 2013 and at distances extending as far as 2.68 au, nearly aphelion. (6478) Gault is a member of the predominately S-type (i.e., volatile-poor) Phocaea family; no other main belt object of this type has ever shown more than a single activity outburst. Furthermore, our data suggest that this is the longest duration of activity caused by a body spinning near the rotational breakup barrier. If activity is indeed unrelated to volatiles, as appears to be the case, (6478) Gault represents a new class of object, perpetually active due to rotational spin-up.

Original language	English (US)
Article number	L12
Journal	Astrophysical Journal Letters
Volume	877
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ab1aaa
State	Published - May 20 2019

Keywords

comets: individual ((6478) Gault)
minor planets, asteroids: individual ((6478) Gault)

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Astronomy and Astrophysics
Space and Planetary Science

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10.3847/2041-8213/ab1aaa

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title = "Six Years of Sustained Activity in (6478) Gault",

abstract = "We present archival observations demonstrating that main belt asteroid (6478) Gault has an extensive history of comet-like activity. Outbursts have taken place during multiple epochs since 2013 and at distances extending as far as 2.68 au, nearly aphelion. (6478) Gault is a member of the predominately S-type (i.e., volatile-poor) Phocaea family; no other main belt object of this type has ever shown more than a single activity outburst. Furthermore, our data suggest that this is the longest duration of activity caused by a body spinning near the rotational breakup barrier. If activity is indeed unrelated to volatiles, as appears to be the case, (6478) Gault represents a new class of object, perpetually active due to rotational spin-up.",

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AU - Chandler, Colin Orion

AU - Kueny, Jay

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AU - Trujillo, Chadwick A.

AU - Robinson, Tyler D.

AU - Trilling, David E.

PY - 2019/5/20

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Six Years of Sustained Activity in (6478) Gault

Abstract

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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