WISE/NEOWISE OBSERVATIONS OF ACTIVE BODIES IN THE MAIN BELT

Journal Article · Thu Mar 01 00:00:00 EST 2012 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/747/1/49· OSTI ID:22016272

Bauer, James M; Mainzer, A K; Masiero, Joseph R; Blauvelt, Erin K; Cherry, De'Andre ^[1]; Grav, Tommy ^[2]; Walker, Russell G ^[3]; McMillan, Robert S; Scotti, James V ^[4]; Fernandez, Yan R; Kramer, Emily ^[5]; Meech, Karen J; Tholen, David J; Riesen, Timm; Urban, Laurie; Khayat, Alain ^[6]; Lisse, Carey M ^[7]; Cutri, Roc M; Dailey, John W; Pearman, George ^[8] ; others, and

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1. Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, MS 183-401, Pasadena, CA 91109 (United States)
2. Planetary Science Institute, 1700 East Fort Lowell, Suite 106, Tucson, AZ 85719-2395 (United States)
3. Monterey Institute for Research in Astronomy, 200 Eighth Street, Marina, CA 93933 (United States)
4. Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, 1629 East University Boulevard, Kuiper Space Science Building 92, Tucson, AZ 85721-0092 (United States)
5. Department of Physics, University of Central Florida, 4000 Central Florida Boulevard, P.S. Building, Orlando, FL 32816-2385 (United States)
6. Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii, 2680 Woodlawn Drive, Manoa, HI 96822 (United States)
7. Applied Physics Laboratory, Johns Hopkins University, 11100 Johns Hopkins Road, Laurel, MD 20723-6099 (United States)
8. Infrared Processing and Analysis Center, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States)

We report results based on mid-infrared photometry of five active main belt objects (AMBOs) detected by the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) spacecraft. Four of these bodies, P/2010 R2 (La Sagra), 133P/Elst-Pizarro, (596) Scheila, and 176P/LINEAR, showed no signs of activity at the time of the observations, allowing the WISE detections to place firm constraints on their diameters and albedos. Geometric albedos were in the range of a few percent, and on the order of other measured comet nuclei. P/2010 A2 was observed on 2010 April 2-3, three months after its peak activity. Photometry of the coma at 12 and 22 {mu}m combined with ground-based visible-wavelength measurements provides constraints on the dust particle mass distribution (PMD), dlog n/dlog m, yielding power-law slope values of {alpha} = -0.5 {+-} 0.1. This PMD is considerably more shallow than that found for other comets, in particular inbound particle fluence during the Stardust encounter of comet 81P/Wild 2. It is similar to the PMD seen for 9P/Tempel 1 in the immediate aftermath of the Deep Impact experiment. Upper limits for CO{sub 2} and CO production are also provided for each AMBO and compared with revised production numbers for WISE observations of 103P/Hartley 2.

• OSTI ID: 22016272
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 747, Issue 1; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTROPHYSICS
COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
ALBEDO
ASTEROIDS
ASTROPHYSICS
CARBON DIOXIDE
CARBON MONOXIDE
COMETS
DUSTS
GEOMETRY
INFRARED SURVEYS
MASS DISTRIBUTION
PHOTOMETRY
PLANETS