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Search for the Return of Activity in Active Asteroid 176P/LINEAR

Authors :
Hsieh, Henry H.
Denneau, Larry
Fitzsimmons, Alan
Hainaut, Olivier R.
Ishiguro, Masateru
Jedicke, Robert
Kaluna, Heather M.
Keane, Jacqueline V.
Kleyna, Jan
Lacerda, Pedro
MacLennan, Eric M.
Meech, Karen J.
Moskovitz, Nick A.
Riesen, Timm
Schunova, Eva
Snodgrass, Colin
Trujillo, Chadwick A.
Urban, Laurie
Veres, Peter
Wainscoat, Richard J.
Yang, Bin
Source :
Astronomical Journal (2014), 147, 89
Publication Year :
2014

Abstract

We present the results of a search for the reactivation of active asteroid 176P/LINEAR during its 2011 perihelion passage using deep optical observations obtained before, during, and after that perihelion passage. Deep composite images of 176P constructed from data obtained between June 2011 and December 2011 show no visible signs of activity, while photometric measurements of the object during this period also show no significant brightness enhancements similar to that observed for 176P between November 2005 and December 2005 when it was previously observed to be active. An azimuthal search for dust emission likewise reveals no evidence for directed emission (i.e., a tail, as was previously observed for 176P), while a one-dimensional surface brightness profile analysis shows no indication of a spherically symmetric coma at any time in 2011. We conclude that 176P did not in fact exhibit activity in 2011, at least not on the level on which it exhibited activity in 2005, and suggest that this could be due to the devolatization or mantling of the active site responsible for its activity in 2005.<br />Comment: 17 pages, 9 figures; published in AJ

Details

Database :
arXiv
Journal :
Astronomical Journal (2014), 147, 89
Publication Type :
Report
Accession number :
edsarx.1408.4865
Document Type :
Working Paper
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-6256/147/4/89