@article{64c3e624a4824e40ae3d8390290b25f8,
title = "Systematic characterization of and search for activity in potentially active asteroids",
abstract = "We report on our long-term observational campaign to characterize and monitor a select sample of 75 dynamically selected dormant comet candidates and six near-Sun asteroids. Both asteroid subpopulations can be considered likely to display comet-like activity. Dormant comets are currently inactive comet nuclei that can still harbor volatiles in subsurface layers, whereas near-Sun asteroids have extremely low perihelion distances and are thus prone to catastrophic disruption. As a result of our 4 yr long observing campaign, we find only dormant comet 3552 Don Quixote to show activity during our program. We furthermore find that (51 ± 10)% of dynamically selected dormant comet candidates in near-Earth space have comet-like physical properties, as well as (56 ± 16)% of dynamically selected dormant comet candidates in other parts of the solar system. All of our near-Sun asteroid sample targets are of nonprimitive nature, suggesting that primitive near-Sun asteroids are more likely to disrupt than nonprimitives. We furthermore find a significant fraction of our near-Sun asteroid sample to display extremely blue V-I color indices, potentially hinting at physical alterations of surface material close to the Sun.",
author = "Michael Mommert and Trilling, {David E.} and Hora, {Joseph L.} and Cassandra Lejoly and Annika Gustafsson and Matthew Knight and Nick Moskovitz and Smith, {Howard A.}",
note = "Funding Information: This work is supported by NASA NEOO grant 80NSSC18K1687. Funding Information: The Pan-STARRS1 Surveys (PS1) and the PS1 public science archive have been made possible through contributions by the Institute for Astronomy, the University of Hawaii, the Pan-STARRS Project Office, the Max-Planck Society and its participating institutes, the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Heidelberg and the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Garching, The Johns Hopkins University, Durham University, the University of Edinburgh, the Queenʼs University Belfast, the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, the Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network Incorporated, the National Central University of Taiwan, the Space Telescope Science Institute, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration under grant No. NNX08AR22G issued through the Planetary Science Division of the NASA Science Mission Directorate, the National Science Foundation grant No. AST-1238877, the University of Maryland, Eotvos Lorand University (ELTE), the Los Alamos National Laboratory, and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. Funding Information: These results made use of the Discovery Channel Telescope at Lowell Observatory. Lowell is a private, nonprofit institution dedicated to astrophysical research and public appreciation of astronomy and operates the DCT in partnership with Boston University, the University of Maryland, the University of Toledo, Northern Arizona University and Yale University. The Large Monolithic Imager was built by Lowell Observatory using funds provided by the National Science Foundation (AST-1005313). Funding Information: This work is supported by NASA NEOO grant 80NSSC18K1687. Our results are in part based on observations with the VATT: the Alice P. Lennon Telescope and the Thomas J. Bannan Astrophysics Facility. These results made use of the Discovery Channel Telescope at Lowell Observatory. Lowell is a private, nonprofit institution dedicated to astrophysical research and public appreciation of astronomy and operates the DCT in partnership with Boston University, the University of Maryland, the University of Toledo, Northern Arizona University and Yale University. The Large Monolithic Imager was built by Lowell Observatory using funds provided by the National Science Foundation (AST-1005313). Results are based on observations obtained at the Southern Astrophysical Research (SOAR) telescope, which is a joint project of the Minist?rio da Ci?ncia, Tecnologia, Inova??es, e Comunica??es (MCTIC) do Brasil, the U.S.National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO), the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), and Michigan State University (MSU). This work is based in part on observations made with the Spitzer Space Telescope, which is operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with NASA. The Pan-STARRS1 Surveys (PS1) and the PS1 public science archive have been made possible through contributions by the Institute for Astronomy, the University of Hawaii, the Pan- STARRS Project Office, the Max-Planck Society and its participating institutes, the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Heidelberg and the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Garching, The Johns Hopkins University, Durham University, the University of Edinburgh, the Queen's University Belfast, the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, the Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network Incorporated, the National Central University of Taiwan, the Space Telescope Science Institute, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration under grant No. NNX08AR22G issued through the Planetary Science Division of the NASA Science Mission Directorate, the National Science Foundation grant No. AST- 1238877, the University of Maryland, Eotvos Lorand University (ELTE), the Los Alamos National Laboratory, and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. Part of the data utilized in this publication were obtained and made available by the MITHNEOS MIT-Hawaii Near-Earth Object Spectroscopic Survey. The IRTF is operated by the University of Hawaii under Cooperative Agreement no. NCC 5-538 with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Office of Space Science, Planetary Astronomy Program. The MIT component of this work is supported by NASA grant 09-NEOO009-0001, and by the National Science Foundation under grants 0506716 and 0907766. Funding Information: Taxonomic type results presented in this work were determined, in whole or in part, using a Bus-DeMeo Taxonomy Classification Web tool by Stephen M. Slivan, developed at MIT with the support of National Science Foundation grant 0506716 and NASA grant NAG5-12355. Funding Information: Part of the data utilized in this publication were obtained and made available by the MITHNEOS MIT-Hawaii Near-Earth Object Spectroscopic Survey. The IRTF is operated by the University of Hawaii under Cooperative Agreement no. NCC 5-538 with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Office of Space Science, Planetary Astronomy Program. The MIT component of this work is supported by NASA grant 09-NEOO009-0001, and by the National Science Foundation under grants 0506716 and 0907766. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2020. The Author(s).",
year = "2020",
month = jun,
doi = "10.3847/PSJ/ab8191",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "1",
journal = "Planetary Science Journal",
issn = "2632-3338",
publisher = "IOP Publishing Ltd.",
number = "1",
}