Continued activity in P/2013 P5 PANSTARRS: Unexpected comet, rotational break-up, or rubbing binary asteroid?

The object P/2013 P5 PANSTARRS was discovered in August 2013, displaying a cometary tail, but its orbital elements indicated that it was a typical member of the inner asteroid main belt. We monitored the object from 2013 August 30 until 2013 October 05 using the CFHT 3.6 m telescope, the NTT, the CA...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Astronomy and astrophysics (Berlin) 2014-03, Vol.563, p.np-np
Main Authors: Hainaut, O R, Boehnhardt, H, Snodgrass, C, Meech, K J, Deller, J, Gillon, M, Jehin, E, Kuehrt, E, Lowry, S C, Manfroid, J, Micheli, M, Mottola, S, Opitom, C, Vincent, J-B, Wainscoat, R
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Asteroid belts
Asteroids
Astronomy
Belts
Comets
Contact
Space telescopes
Sublimation
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Summary:The object P/2013 P5 PANSTARRS was discovered in August 2013, displaying a cometary tail, but its orbital elements indicated that it was a typical member of the inner asteroid main belt. We monitored the object from 2013 August 30 until 2013 October 05 using the CFHT 3.6 m telescope, the NTT, the CA 1.23 m telescope, the Perkins 1.8 m and the 0.6 m TRAPPIST telescope. We also propose that the components of a contact binary might gently rub and produce the observed emission. Volatile sublimation might also explain what appears as cometary activity over a period of 8 months. However, while main belt comets best explained by ice sublimation are found in the outskirts of the main belt, where water ice is believed to be able to survive buried in moderately large objects for the age of the solar system deeply, the presence of volatiles in an object smaller than 300 m in radius would be very surprising in the inner asteroid belt.
ISSN:0004-6361
1432-0746
DOI:10.1051/0004-6361/201322864