DETERMINATION OF AN UPPER LIMIT FOR THE WATER OUTGASSING RATE OF MAIN-BELT COMET P/2012 T1 (PANSTARRS)

Journal Article · Sun Sep 01 00:00:00 EDT 2013 · Astrophysical Journal Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/774/1/L13· OSTI ID:22136539

O'Rourke, L.; Teyssier, D.; Kueppers, M. ^[1]; Snodgrass, C.; De Val-Borro, M.; Hartogh, P. ^[2]; Biver, N.; Bockelee-Morvan, D. ^[3]; Hsieh, H.; Micheli, M. ^[4]

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1. European Space Astronomy Centre, ESAC, Villanueva de la Canada, E-28691 Madrid (Spain)
2. Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Max-Planck-Str. 2, D-37191 Katlenburg-Lindau (Germany)
3. LESIA, Observatoire de Paris, CNRS, UPMC, Universite Paris-Diderot, 5 place Jules Janssen, F-92195 Meudon (France)
4. Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii, 2680 Woodlawn Drive, Honolulu, HI 96822 (United States)

A new Main-Belt Comet (MBC) P/2012 T1 (PANSTARRS) was discovered on 2012 October 6, approximately one month after its perihelion, by the Pan-STARRS1 survey based in Hawaii. It displayed cometary activity upon its discovery with one hypothesis being that the activity was driven by sublimation of ices; as a result, we searched for emission assumed to be driven by the sublimation of subsurface ices. Our search was of the H{sub 2}O 1{sub 10}-1{sub 01} ground state rotational line at 557 GHz from P/2012 T1 (PANSTARRS) with the Heterodyne Instrument for the Far Infrared on board the Herschel Space Observatory on 2013 January 16, when the object was at a heliocentric distance of 2.504 AU and a geocentric distance of 2.064 AU. Perihelion was in early 2012 September at a distance of 2.411 AU. While no H{sub 2}O line emission was detected in our observations, we were able to derive sensitive 3{sigma} upper limits for the water production rate and column density of <7.63 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 25} molecules s{sup -1} and of <1.61 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 11} cm{sup -2}, respectively. An observation taken on 2013 January 15 using the Very Large Telescope found the MBC to be active during the Herschel observation, suggesting that any ongoing sublimation due to subsurface ice was lower than our upper limit.

• OSTI ID: 22136539
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal Letters, Vol. 774, Issue 1; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 2041-8205
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTROPHYSICS
COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
COMETS
DEGASSING
DISTANCE
EMISSION
GHZ RANGE
GROUND STATES
ICE
MOLECULES
SUBLIMATION
TELESCOPES
WATER