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2009 Annual Science Report

University of Hawaii, Manoa Reporting  |  JUL 2008 – AUG 2009

Main Belt Comet P/2008 R1 Garradd Characterization

Project Summary

We identified P/2008 R1 as a main-belt comet (previously mis-classified as an ordinary Jupiter-family comet) and mounted an observational program to assess its physical properties, and a dynamical campaign to understand its orbit.

4 Institutions
3 Teams
1 Publication
1 Field Site
Field Sites

Project Progress

Main-belt comets are objects with the dynamical characteristics of an asteroid and the physical characteristics of a comet (see Figure 1). P/2008 R1 is a newly-discovered comet and is identified as the 4th MBC. We obtained limits to its size (500 m) and mass loss rate (< 1 kg/s). Unlike the previously reported MBCs, P/2008R1 is dynamically unstable with a lifetime of ~ 20-30Myr (see Figure 2). P/2008R1, as a new type of MBC, must have been recently emplaced from a longer-lived source elsewhere, perhaps in the outer belt. The work is already published as

D. Jewitt, B. Yang and N. Haghighipour (2009). Main-Belt Comet P/2008 R1 (Garradd). Astronomical Journal, 137, 4313-4321.

Figure 1

Figure 1. ​R-band image of P/2008 R1, taken at the Keck telescope. A faint tail extends to the northeast from the nucleus of the comet. The projected Sun-comet radius vector is denoted by “-Sun”.

Figure 2

Figure 2. ​Semimajor axis versus eccentricity for numbered asteroids (small black dots) with the four known MBCs marked in color. The Mean motion resonances (MMR) with Jupiter are labeled by dashed lines. P/2008 R1 is located near the J8:3 MMR and is therefore dynamically unstable.

Publications

  • Jewitt, D., Yang, B., & Haghighipour, N. (2009). MAIN-BELT COMET P/2008 R1 (GARRADD). The Astronomical Journal, 137(5), 4313–4321. doi:10.1088/0004-6256/137/5/4313

  • PROJECT INVESTIGATORS:
  • PROJECT MEMBERS:
    Nader Haghighipour
    Unspecified Role

    David Jewitt
    Unspecified Role

    Bin Yang
    Unspecified Role

  • RELATED OBJECTIVES:
    Objective 1.1
    Formation and evolution of habitable planets.

    Objective 2.2
    Outer Solar System exploration

    Objective 3.1
    Sources of prebiotic materials and catalysts