Are There Many Inactive Jupiter-Family Comets among the Near-Earth Asteroid Population?

Fernández, Julio A.; Gallardo, Tabaré; Brunini, A.

doi:10.1006/icar.2002.6903

Cited by 165 publications

(160 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…Unfortunately, we expect an exact determination of EP's evolutionary history to be difficult to achieve, since EP's original orbit and activity level are likely much different from what we currently see and thus difficult to properly constrain. As seen in simulations performed by Fernández et al (2002), gravitational perturbations alone can produce large orbital deviations: D/ Pigott migrates from a perihelion distance of q $ 1 AU to one as high as q $ 3 AU. Outgassing is of course more vigorous at smaller heliocentric distances and so may have been a much stronger influence early on in EP's dynamical history than is apparent today.…”

Section: The Comet Hypothesismentioning

confidence: 84%

“…Ipatov (2004, private communication) suggested, however, that EP's orbit could have been less stable in the past and only made more stable later by nongravitational influences. Fernández et al (2002) were able to gravitationally evolve a sample JFC (D/ Pigott in their simulations) into an orbit with a 2:1 mean motion resonance with Jupiter, mimicking EP's orbit, but could not find a purely gravitational solution for reproducing EP's low inclination (i = 1: 4, vs. i $ 25 -30 for an evolved D/Pigott). The dynamical problems in understanding EP are, to some extent, shared by 2P/Encke, whose cometary nature is not in question.…”

Section: The Comet Hypothesismentioning

confidence: 97%

“…A poor understanding of the precise effects of nongravitational forces on the long-term dynamical evolution of such bodies results in uncertain knowledge of the fraction of inactive Jupiter-family comets (JFCs) among bona fide asteroids in the near-Earth population. Recent estimates range from 20% (Fernández, Gallardo, & Brunini 2002;Bottke et al 2002) to as high as 50% (Harris & Bailey 1998).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Strange Case of 133P/Elst-Pizarro: A Comet among the Asteroids

2004

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We present a new investigation of the comet-asteroid transition object 133P/(7968) Elst-Pizarro. We find mean optical colors (BÀV = 0.69 AE 0.02, VÀR = 0.42 AE 0.03, RÀI = 0.27 AE 0.03) and a phase-darkening coefficient ( = 0.044 AE 0.007 mag deg À1 ) that are comparable both to other comet nuclei and to C-type asteroids. As in 1996, when this object's comet-like activity was first noted, data from 2002 show a long, narrow dust trail in the projected orbit of the object. Observations over several months reveal changes in the structure and brightness of this trail, showing that it is actively generated over long periods of time. Finson-Probstein modeling is used to constrain the parameters of the dust trail. We find optically dominant dust particle sizes of a d $ 10 m released with low ejection velocities (v g % 1.5 m s À1 ) over a period of activity lasting at least 5 months in 2002. The doublepeaked light curve of the nucleus indicates an aspherical shape (axis ratio a/b ! 1.45 AE 0.07) and rapid rotation (period P rot = 3.471 AE 0.001 hr). The practical identification of 133P/Elst-Pizarro as a comet (i.e., a mass-losing body) is not in doubt, but the origin of the mass loss is unclear. The 1996 trail has been previously explained as debris released by a chance impact, but our discovery of recurrent activity renders this interpretation implausible. We consider two hypotheses for the activity in 133P/ Elst-Pizarro. The ejection of particles is naturally explained if the object is a barely active Jupiter-family comet that has evolved into an asteroid-like orbit, perhaps under the prolonged action of nongravitational forces due to asymmetric mass loss. In this case, the orbital similarity to the Themis family must be considered coincidental. Alternatively, 133P/ Elst-Pizarro could be a true member of the Themis family on which buried ice has been recently excavated by impact.

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Section: The Comet Hypothesismentioning

confidence: 84%

Section: The Comet Hypothesismentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Strange Case of 133P/Elst-Pizarro: A Comet among the Asteroids

2004

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“…Though the architecture of the modern Solar System appears to largely lack reliable pathways by which outer Solar System objects can evolve onto MBC-like orbits (e.g., Fernández et al 2002), such interlopers cannot be completely excluded. Considering only the dynamical influence of major planets and the Sun, Hsieh and Haghighipour (2016) showed that pathways exist that are capable of temporarily implanting JFCs in the MB, largely shaped by the effects of close encounters with the terrestrial planets.…”

Section: Dynamical Evolutionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Main Belt Comets and ice in the Solar System

Snodgrass

Agarwal

Combi

et al. 2017

Astron Astrophys Rev

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We review the evidence for buried ice in the asteroid belt; specifically the questions around the so-called Main Belt Comets (MBCs). We summarise the evidence for water throughout the Solar System, and describe the various methods for detecting it, including remote sensing from ultraviolet to radio wavelengths. We review progress in the first decade of study of MBCs, including observations, modelling of ice survival, and discussion on their origins. We then look at which methods will likely be most effective for further progress, including the key challenge of direct detection of (escaping) water in these bodies.

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“…This question originally arose in the case of 133P as dynamicists attempted to determine whether this comet orbiting in the main asteroid belt could simply be an ordinary Jupiter-family comet from the outer solar system that had somehow evolved onto a main-belt orbit. Numerical simulations showed, however, that 133P was dynamically stable over large timescales and found no plausible dynamical paths from a JFC-type orbit to that of 133P (e.g., Ipatov & Hahn 1999;Fernández et al 2002). Numerical analyses of the dynamical behavior of subsequently discovered MBCs (Haghighipour 2009;Hsieh et al 2012b,c) produced similar results, indicating that most of the currently known MBCs are largely stable, and therefore likely diagnostic of the local composition of the protosolar disk.…”

Section: Are They Actually From the Inner Solar System?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Main-Belt Comets as Tracers of Ice in the Inner Solar System

Hsieh

2012

Proc. IAU

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Abstract. As a recently recognized class of objects exhibiting apparently cometary (sublimationdriven) activity yet orbiting completely within the main asteroid belt, main-belt comets (MBCs) have revealed the existence of present-day ice in small bodies in the inner solar system and offer an opportunity to better understand the thermal and compositional history of our solar system, and by extension, those of other planetary systems as well. Achieving these overall goals, however, will require meeting various intermediate research objectives, including discovering many more MBCs than the currently known seven objects in order to ascertain the population's true abundance and distribution, confirming that water ice sublimation is in fact the driver of activity in these objects, and improving our understanding of the physical, dynamical, and thermal evolutionary processes that have acted on this population over the age of the solar system.

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Are There Many Inactive Jupiter-Family Comets among the Near-Earth Asteroid Population?

Cited by 165 publications

References 32 publications

The Strange Case of 133P/Elst-Pizarro: A Comet among the Asteroids

The Strange Case of 133P/Elst-Pizarro: A Comet among the Asteroids

The Main Belt Comets and ice in the Solar System

Main-Belt Comets as Tracers of Ice in the Inner Solar System

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