THE NUCLEUS OF MAIN-BELT COMET 259P/GARRADD

Journal Article · Wed Oct 10 00:00:00 EDT 2012 · Astrophysical Journal Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/758/1/L3· OSTI ID:22078513

MacLennan, Eric M

We present observations of the main-belt comet 259P/Garradd, previously known as P/2008 R1 (Garradd), obtained in 2011 and 2012 using the Gemini North Telescope on Mauna Kea in Hawaii and the SOAR telescope at Cerro Pachon in Chile, with the goal of computing the object's phase function and nucleus size. We find an absolute magnitude of H{sub R} = 19.71 {+-} 0.05 mag and slope parameter of G{sub R} = -0.08 {+-} 0.05 for the inactive nucleus, corresponding to an effective nucleus radius of r{sub e} = 0.30 {+-} 0.02 km, assuming an R-band albedo of p{sub R} = 0.05. We also revisit observations reported for 259P while it was active in 2008 to quantify the dust mass loss and compare the object with other known main-belt comets.

• OSTI ID: 22078513
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal Letters, Vol. 758, 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
ALBEDO
ASTEROIDS
COMETS
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
COSMIC DUST
PLANETS
TELESCOPES