nai

Project Progress

In 2010, the asteroid P/2010 A2 was observed to have a dust and debris trail, suggesting either cometary activity (an MBC) or a collision. To determine whether this event was an MBC or an impact, we developed two novel, mathematical methods to describe the debris field, one a simple binary, envelope fit and the other a more complex multiparametric method. Both methods showed that P2010/A2 could be explained with an instantaneous cone in a particular direction (Fig. 1), with a half—opening angle of 40 degrees, agreeing well with models and experiments of impacts. Moreover, we demonstrated that it is likely that A2 has a dusty surface rather than a solid one, and produced models that reproduced some of the most salient features. Fig. 2 shows our simple model, compared to an HST archive image of the debris around P/2010 A2, with the various observational features explained through line-of-sight brightening of a conical geometry. This work resulted in the publication of two papers.

Our models will be useful in interpreting future tail detections found in the main belt, in our ongoing search for cometary activity in the Main Belt.

Using debris distributions from hydrodynamic collision models run by B.H., we are further developing our techniques. Our preliminary finding is that we are able to discern not only the arrival direction of an impactor, but also, by fitting the asymmetries of the ejecta, the angle at which it strikes the target body.