The discovery of cometary activity in near-Earth asteroid (3552) Don Quixote
- Institute of Planetary Research, German Aerospace Center (DLR), Rutherfordstr. 2, D-12489 Berlin (Germany)
- Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138-1516 (United States)
- Universities Space Research Association, Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, MS 232-11, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035 (United States)
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of Tennessee, 1412 Circle Dr., Knoxville, TN 37996 (United States)
- NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, 8800 Greenbelt Rd, Greenbelt, MD 20771 (United States)
- SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research, Postbus 800, 9700 AV Groningen (Netherlands)
- NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035 (United States)
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Northern Arizona University, P.O. Box 6010, Flagstaff, AZ 86011 (United States)
- UNS-CNRS-Observatoire de la Cote d'Azur, BP4229, F-06304 Nice Cedex 4 (France)
The near-Earth object (NEO) population, which mainly consists of fragments from collisions between asteroids in the main asteroid belt, is thought to include contributions from short-period comets as well. One of the most promising NEO candidates for a cometary origin is near-Earth asteroid (3552) Don Quixote, which has never been reported to show activity. Here we present the discovery of cometary activity in Don Quixote based on thermal-infrared observations made with the Spitzer Space Telescope in its 3.6 and 4.5 μm bands. Our observations clearly show the presence of a coma and a tail in the 4.5 μm but not in the 3.6 μm band, which is consistent with molecular band emission from CO{sub 2}. Thermal modeling of the combined photometric data on Don Quixote reveals a diameter of 18.4{sub −0.4}{sup +0.3} km and an albedo of 0.03{sub −0.01}{sup +0.02}, which confirms Don Quixote to be the third-largest known NEO. We derive an upper limit on the dust production rate of 1.9 kg s{sup –1} and derive a CO{sub 2} gas production rate of (1.1 ± 0.1) × 10{sup 26} molecules s{sup –1}. Spitzer Infrared Spectrograph spectroscopic observations indicate the presence of fine-grained silicates, perhaps pyroxene rich, on the surface of Don Quixote. Our discovery suggests that CO{sub 2} can be present in near-Earth space over a long time. The presence of CO{sub 2} might also explain that Don Quixote's cometary nature remained hidden for nearly three decades.
- OSTI ID:
- 22348173
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 781, Issue 1; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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