Intermittent dust mass loss from activated asteroid p/2013 p5 (panstarrs)

DOI: 
10.1088/0004-637X/781/2/118
Publication date: 
01/02/2014
Main author: 
Moreno F.
IAA authors: 
Moreno F.;Pozuelos F.
Authors: 
Moreno F., Licandro J., Álvarez-Iglesias C., Cabrera-Lavers A., Pozuelos F.
Journal: 
Astrophysical Journal
Publication type: 
Article
Volume: 
781
Pages: 
Number: 
118
Abstract: 
We present observations and models of the dust environment of activated asteroid P/2013 P5 (PANSTARRS). The object displayed a complex morphology during the observations, with the presence of multiple tails. We combined our own observations, all made with instrumentation attached to the 10.4 m Gran Telescopio Canarias on La Palma, with previously published Hubble Space Telescope images to build a model aimed at fitting all the observations. Altogether, the data cover a full three month period of observations which can be explained by intermittent dust loss. The most plausible scenario is that of an asteroid rotating with the spinning axis oriented perpendicular to the orbit plane and losing mass from the equatorial region, consistent with rotational break-up. Assuming that the ejection velocity of the particles (v0.02-0.05 m s-1) corresponds to the escape velocity, the object diameter is constrained to 30-130 m for bulk densities 3000-1000 kg m-3. © 2014. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.
Database: 
WOK
SCOPUS
ADS
URL: 
https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/#abs/2014ApJ...781..118M/abstract
ADS Bibcode: 
2014ApJ...781..118M
Keywords: 
methods: numerical; minor planets asteroids: individual (P/2013 P5 (PANSTARRS))