The Splitting of Double-component Active Asteroid P/2016 J1 (PANSTARRS)
- Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía, CSIC, Glorieta de la Astronomía s/n, E-18008 Granada (Spain)
- Department of Astronomy, Faculty of Mathematics, University of Belgrade, Studentski trg 16, 11000 Belgrade (Serbia)
- Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, c/Vía Láctea s/n, E-38200 La Laguna, Tenerife (Spain)
- Laboratoire Lagrange, Université Côte d’Azur, Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur, CNRS, Blvd. de l’Observatoire, CS 34229, F-06304 Nice cedex 4 (France)
- University of Hawaii, Institute for Astronomy, 2680 Woodlawn Drive, Honolulu, HI 96822 (United States)
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC (Canada)
- Astrophysics Research Centre, Queens University Belfast, Belfast BT7 1NN (United Kingdom)
- NRC-Herzberg Astronomy and Astrophysics, National Research Council of Canada, 5071 West Saanich Road, Victoria, BC V9E 2E7 (Canada)
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109 (United States)
- Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii, 2680 Woodlawn Drive, Honolulu, HI 96822 (United States)
We present deep imaging observations, orbital dynamics, and dust-tail model analyses of the double-component asteroid P/2016 J1 (J1-A and J1-B). The observations were acquired at the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC) and the Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) from mid-March to late July of 2016. A statistical analysis of backward-in-time integrations of the orbits of a large sample of clone objects of P/2016 J1-A and J1-B shows that the minimum separation between them occurred most likely ∼2300 days prior to the current perihelion passage, i.e., during the previous orbit near perihelion. This closest approach was probably linked to a fragmentation event of their parent body. Monte Carlo dust-tail models show that those two components became active simultaneously ∼250 days before the current perihelion, with comparable maximum loss rates of ∼0.7 and ∼0.5 kg s{sup −1}, and total ejected masses of 8 × 10{sup 6} and 6 × 10{sup 6} kg for fragments J1-A and J1-B, respectively. Consequently, the fragmentation event and the present dust activity are unrelated. The simultaneous activation times of the two components and the fact that the activity lasted 6–9 months or longer, strongly indicate ice sublimation as the most likely mechanism involved in the dust emission process.
- OSTI ID:
- 22654530
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal Letters, Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal Letters Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 837; ISSN 2041-8205
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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