P/2019 LD2 (ATLAS)

Last updated

P/2019 LD2 (ATLAS)
CometP2019LD2-Hubble-20210225.jpg
P/2019 LD2 (ATLAS) imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope in April 2020
Discovery  [1]
Discovered by ATLAS-MLO
Discovery site Mauna Loa Obs.
Discovery date10 June 2019 (first observed)
Designations
2019 LD2
Jupiter-family comet [1]
periodic   [2]
centaur   [3]
Orbital characteristics   [1] [4]
Epoch 27 July 2019 (JD 2458691.5)
Uncertainty parameter 4
Observation arc 2.00 yr (729 d)
Earliest precovery date21 May 2018
Aphelion 6.0774 AU
Perihelion 4.5784 AU
5.3279 AU
Eccentricity 0.14068
12.3 yr
339.529°
0° 4m 48.518s / day
Inclination 11.517°
180.217°
122.688°
Jupiter  MOID 0.0334843 AU
TJupiter 2.940
Physical characteristics
Mean diameter
~14 km(assuming albedo of 0.12) [5]
19.0 [4]
12.20±0.83(M1=6.9±0.8) [1]
12.1 [4]

    P/2019 LD2 (ATLAS) is a Jupiter-family comet discovered by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System on 10 June 2019. [6] [7] It was initially reported as the first known Jupiter trojan asteroid to display cometary activity, [8] but its classification as a Jupiter trojan was retracted after closer examination and a longer observation arc revealed its orbit to be unstable like a typical Jupiter family comet and implied that its position near the trojans is temporary. [1] [9]

    Contents

    Discovery

    P/2019 LD2 was discovered in images by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) at the Mauna Loa Observatory taken on 10 June 2019. [4] Upon discovery, astronomers Alan Fitzsimmons and David Young at Queen's University Belfast suspected a faint coma around P/2019 LD2. [2] Follow-up observations by the Las Cumbres Observatory in 11 and 13 June 2019 confirmed the cometary appearance of P/2019 LD2, which now had a more apparent coma and tail. Later observations by the ATLAS-MLO in April 2020 showed that P/2019 LD2 still retained its cometary appearance, suggesting that it has been continuously active for almost a year. [8]

    The discovery of P/2019 LD2's cometary activity was announced in a press release by the University of Hawaiʻi Institute for Astronomy on 20 May 2020, purporting it as the first known active Jupiter trojan, as it was discovered near Jupiter's L4 Lagrangian point where the Greek camp trojans reside. [8] However, upon closer examination of P/2019 LD2's orbital dynamics by amateur astronomer Sam Deen, P/2019 LD2 was found to be a Jupiter-family comet with a chaotic orbit instead of a Jupiter trojan. [9] [10] Subsequently, the comet was reclassified and was given the periodic comet designation P/2019 LD2 (ATLAS) by the Minor Planet Center on 22 May 2020. [2]

    Orbit and classification

    Color composite image of P/2019 LD2 tracked by Gemini North A Centaur in Transition.jpg
    Color composite image of P/2019 LD2 tracked by Gemini North
    Animation of P/2019 LD2 around Sun from 1600 to 2200 .mw-parser-output .legend{page-break-inside:avoid;break-inside:avoid-column}.mw-parser-output .legend-color{display:inline-block;min-width:1.25em;height:1.25em;line-height:1.25;margin:1px 0;text-align:center;border:1px solid black;background-color:transparent;color:black}.mw-parser-output .legend-text{} Sun * Jupiter * P/2019 LD2 Animation of P/2019 LD2 around Sun.gif
    Animation of P/2019 LD2 around Sun from 1600 to 2200
      Sun ·  Jupiter ·  P/2019 LD2

    P/2019 LD2 orbits the Sun at a mean distance of 5.29  AU once every 12.18 years. Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.135 and an inclination of 11.6 degrees with respect to the ecliptic. [1] The body's observation arc begins with a precovery, published by the Pan-STARRS 1 survey and taken at Haleakala Observatory on 21 May 2018, or 11 months prior to its official discovery observation by the ALTAS-MLO survey. [4]

    P/2019 LD2 is a Jupiter-family comet with a Tisserand parameter of 2.94, typical for other Jupiter-family comets. [1] The comet's nominal orbit suggests that it is not in a stable 1:1 resonance with Jupiter as it has made a close approach to the planet on 17 February 2017, at a distance of 0.092 AU (13.8 million km; 8.6 million mi), and will make a similarly close approach in 2028. [1] [10] Unlike the Jupiter trojans, P/2019 LD2 is 21 degrees ahead of Jupiter, and will continue drifting 30 degrees ahead before returning to Jupiter and making close approaches. [10] P/2019 LD2 is now following what looks like a short arc of a quasi-satellite cycle with respect to Jupiter that started in 2017 and will end in 2028. [11]

    [12] On 2063 January 23, it will have a very close encounter with Jupiter at 0.016 AU; orbital predictions after this flyby are rather uncertain. [12]

    Physical characteristics

    Based on a generic magnitude-to-diameter conversion, [13] P/2019 LD2 measures approximately 14 kilometers in diameter, for an assumed albedo of 0.12 as the median for small Jupiter trojans, [5] and an absolute magnitude of 12.2. [1] As of May 2020, no rotational light curve of P/2019 LD2 has been obtained from photometric observations. The body's rotation period, pole and shape remain unknown. [1] [14] The visible spectrum does not exhibit any evidence of CN, C2, or C3 emission. [11] [12]

    During the approach to perihelion in 2020, the comet shed large-grained (0.1 mm typical) dust grains rich with water ice. [11]

    See also

    Related Research Articles

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Comet</span> Natural object in space that releases gas

    A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that warms and begins to release gases when passing close to the Sun, a process called outgassing. This produces an extended, gravitationally unbound atmosphere or coma surrounding the nucleus, and sometimes a tail of gas and dust gas blown out from the coma. These phenomena are due to the effects of solar radiation and the outstreaming solar wind plasma acting upon the nucleus of the comet. Comet nuclei range from a few hundred meters to tens of kilometers across and are composed of loose collections of ice, dust, and small rocky particles. The coma may be up to 15 times Earth's diameter, while the tail may stretch beyond one astronomical unit. If sufficiently close and bright, a comet may be seen from Earth without the aid of a telescope and can subtend an arc of up to 30° across the sky. Comets have been observed and recorded since ancient times by many cultures and religions.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">2060 Chiron</span> Large 200km centaur/comet with 50-year orbit

    2060 Chiron is a small Solar System body in the outer Solar System, orbiting the Sun between Saturn and Uranus. Discovered in 1977 by Charles Kowal, it was the first-identified member of a new class of objects now known as centaurs—bodies orbiting between the asteroid belt and the Kuiper belt. Chiron is named after the centaur Chiron in Greek mythology.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Centaur (small Solar System body)</span> Type of Solar System object

    In planetary astronomy, a centaur is a small Solar System body that orbits the Sun between Jupiter and Neptune and crosses the orbits of one or more of the giant planets. Centaurs generally have unstable orbits because they cross or have crossed the orbits of the giant planets; almost all their orbits have dynamic lifetimes of only a few million years, but there is one known centaur, 514107 Kaʻepaokaʻawela, which may be in a stable orbit. Centaurs typically exhibit the characteristics of both asteroids and comets. They are named after the mythological centaurs that were a mixture of horse and human. Observational bias toward large objects makes determination of the total centaur population difficult. Estimates for the number of centaurs in the Solar System more than 1 km in diameter range from as low as 44,000 to more than 10,000,000.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">944 Hidalgo</span>

    944 Hidalgo is a centaur and unusual object on an eccentric, cometary-like orbit between the asteroid belt and the outer Solar System, approximately 52 kilometers in diameter. Discovered by German astronomer Walter Baade in 1920, it is the first member of the dynamical class of centaurs ever to be discovered. The dark D-type object has a rotation period of 10.1 hours and likely an elongated shape. It was named after Mexican revolutionary Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Pan-STARRS</span> Multi-telescope astronomical survey

    The Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System located at Haleakala Observatory, Hawaii, US, consists of astronomical cameras, telescopes and a computing facility that is surveying the sky for moving or variable objects on a continual basis, and also producing accurate astrometry and photometry of already-detected objects. In January 2019 the second Pan-STARRS data release was announced. At 1.6 petabytes, it is the largest volume of astronomical data ever released.

    Mount Lemmon Survey (MLS) is a part of the Catalina Sky Survey with observatory code G96. MLS uses a 1.52 m (60 in) cassegrain reflector telescope operated by the Steward Observatory at Mount Lemmon Observatory, which is located at 2,791 meters (9,157 ft) in the Santa Catalina Mountains northeast of Tucson, Arizona.

    60558 Echeclus is a centaur, approximately 84 kilometers (52 miles) in diameter, located in the outer Solar System. It was discovered by Spacewatch in 2000 and initially classified as a minor planet with provisional designation 2000 EC98 (also written 2000 EC98). Research in 2001 by Rousselot and Petit at the Besançon observatory in France indicated that it was not a comet, but in December 2005 a cometary coma was detected. In early 2006 the Committee on Small Bodies Nomenclature (CSBN) gave it the cometary designation 174P/Echeclus. It last came to perihelion in April 2015, and was expected to reach about apparent magnitude 16.7 near opposition in September 2015.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">9912 Donizetti</span> Asteroid

    9912 Donizetti, provisional designation 2078 T-3, is a stony Rafita asteroid from the central regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 7 km in diameter. It was discovered during the third Palomar–Leiden Trojan survey in 1977, and named after Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti.

    83982 Crantor (provisional designation 2002 GO9) is a centaur in a 1:1 resonance with Uranus, approximately 60 kilometers (37 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 12 April 2002, by astronomers of the Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking at the Palomar Observatory in California, United States. This minor planet was named for Crantor from Greek mythology.

    4827 Dares is a larger Jupiter trojan from the Trojan camp, approximately 43 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 17 August 1988 by American astronomer Carolyn Shoemaker at the Palomar Observatory in California. The dark D-type asteroid has a rotation period of 19.0 hours. It was named after Dares from Greek mythology.

    4007 Euryalos is a larger Jupiter trojan from the Greek camp, approximately 48 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 19 September 1973, by Dutch astronomers Ingrid and Cornelis van Houten at Leiden, and Tom Gehrels at Palomar Observatory in California. The likely spherical Jovian asteroid is the principal body of the proposed Euryalos family and has a rotation period of 6.4 hours. It was named after the warrior Euryalus from Greek mythology.

    20898 Fountainhills (provisional designation 2000 WE147) is a dark asteroid in a cometary orbit (ACO) from the outermost regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 37 kilometers (23 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 30 November 2000, by American amateur astronomer Charles W. Juels at the Fountain Hills Observatory in Arizona, United States. The D-type asteroid has a rotation period of 12.84 hours. It was named for the city of Fountain Hills, Arizona, in the United States.

    5028 Halaesus is a Jupiter trojan from the Greek camp, approximately 51 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 23 January 1988 by American astronomer Carolyn Shoemaker at the Palomar Observatory in California. The dark D-type asteroid has a rotation period of 24.9 hours and belongs to the 100 largest Jupiter trojans. It was named after Halaesus from Greek mythology.

    4138 Kalchas is a large Jupiter trojan from the Greek camp, approximately 53 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 19 September 1973, by Dutch astronomers Ingrid and Cornelis van Houten at Leiden, on photographic plates taken by Tom Gehrels at the Palomar Observatory in California. The assumed C-type asteroid is the principal body of the proposed Kalchas family and has a rotation period of 29.2 hours. It was named after the seer Calchas from Greek mythology.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Extinct comet</span> Comet that lacks typical activity

    An extinct comet is a comet that has expelled most of its volatile ice and has little left to form a tail and coma. In a dormant comet, rather than being depleted, any remaining volatile components have been sealed beneath an inactive surface layer.

    (457175) 2008 GO98 (provisional designation 2008 GO98) with cometary number 362P, is a Jupiter family comet in a quasi-Hilda orbit within the outermost regions of the asteroid belt. It was discovered on 8 April 2008, by astronomers of the Spacewatch program at Kitt Peak National Observatory near Tucson, Arizona, in the United States. This presumably carbonaceous body has a diameter of approximately 15 kilometers (9 miles) and rotation period of 10.7 hours.

    12929 Periboea, provisional designation: 1999 TZ1, is a dark Jupiter trojan from the Trojan camp, approximately 54 kilometers (34 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 2 October 1999, by American astronomer Charles W. Juels at the Fountain Hills Observatory in Arizona. Originally considered a centaur, this now re-classified Jovian asteroid has a rotation period of 9.3 hours and belongs to the 80 largest Jupiter trojans. It was named from Greek mythology after Periboea, mother of Pelagon by the river-god Axius.

    (342842) 2008 YB3, provisional designation: 2008 YB3, is a sizable centaur and retrograde damocloid from the outer Solar System, approximately 67 kilometers (42 miles) in diameter. It was discovered on 18 December 2008, by astronomers with the Siding Spring Survey at the Siding Spring Observatory in Australia. The minor planet was numbered in 2012 and has since not been named.

    (523676) 2013 UL10 (prov. designation:2013 UL10) is a reddish centaur with cometary activity orbiting the Sun between Jupiter and Uranus. It was discovered on 18 August 2010, by a team of astronomers with the Pan-STARRS survey at the Haleakalā Observatory, Hawaii. It is the first centaur known to have both comet-like activity and red surface colors. It is also one of the smallest centaurs, with a nucleus of no more than 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) in diameter. As of 2021, it has not been named.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Impact events on Jupiter</span> Modern observed impacts on Jupiter

    In modern times, numerous impact events on Jupiter have been observed, the most significant of which was the collision of Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9 in 1994. Jupiter is the most massive planet in the Solar System and thus has a vast sphere of gravitational influence, the region of space where an asteroid capture can take place under favorable conditions.

    References

    1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "JPL Small-Body Database Browser: (P/2019 LD2)" (2020-05-19 last obs.). Jet Propulsion Laboratory . Retrieved 21 May 2020.
    2. 1 2 3 "MPEC 2020-K134 : COMET P/2019 LD2 (ATLAS)". Minor Planet Electronic Circular. Minor Planet Center. 22 May 2020. Retrieved 22 May 2020.
    3. ↑ Kareta, Theodore; Volk, Kathryn; Noonan, John W.; Sharkey, Benjamin N. L.; Harris, Walter M.; Reddy, Vishnu (May 2020). "An Extremely Temporary Co-orbital: The Dynamical State of Active Centaur 2019 LD2". Research Notes of the AAS. 4 (5): 74. arXiv: 2007.13945 . Bibcode:2020RNAAS...4...74K. doi: 10.3847/2515-5172/ab963c . S2CID   219739658. 74.
    4. 1 2 3 4 5 "P/2019 LD2". Minor Planet Center. International Astronomical Union. Retrieved 21 May 2020.
    5. 1 2 Fernández, Y. R.; Jewitt, D.; Ziffer, J. E. (June 2009). "Albedos of Small Jovian Trojans". The Astronomical Journal. 138 (1): 240–250. arXiv: 0906.1786 . Bibcode:2009AJ....138..240F. doi:10.1088/0004-6256/138/1/240. S2CID   5592793.
    6. ↑ Andrews, Robin George (3 December 2020). "A 'Front-Row Seat' to the Birth of a Comet - Astronomers are watching an object transform into a hyperactive comet that will head toward the inner solar system in the coming decades". The New York Times . Retrieved 3 December 2020.
    7. ↑ Steckloff, J.K.; et al. (26 November 2020). "P/2019 LD2 (ATLAS): An Active Centaur in Imminent Transition to the Jupiter Family". The Astrophysical Journal . 904 (2): L20. arXiv: 2008.02943 . Bibcode:2020ApJ...904L..20S. doi: 10.3847/2041-8213/abc888 . S2CID   221083420.
    8. 1 2 3 "UH ATLAS telescope discovers first-of-its-kind asteroid". Institute for Astronomy. University of Hawaiʻi. 20 May 2020. Retrieved 21 May 2020.
    9. 1 2 "Astronomers recategorize asteroid-like comet detected by UH ATLAS telescope". University of Hawaiʻi News. University of Hawaiʻi. 26 May 2020. Retrieved 27 May 2020.
    10. 1 2 3 Hecht, Jeff (28 May 2020). "Jupiter Has Trapped a Comet in a Bizarre Orbit". Sky & Telescope . Retrieved 28 May 2020.
    11. 1 2 3 Bolin, Bryce T.; Fernandez, Yanga R.; Lisse, Carey M.; Holt, Timothy R.; Lin, Zhong-Yi; Purudm, Josiah N.; Deshmukh, Kunal P.; Bauer, James M.; Bellm, Eric C. (March 2021). "Initial Characterization of Active Transitioning Centaur, P/2019 LD2 (ATLAS), Using Hubble, Spitzer, ZTF, Keck, Apache Point Observatory, and GROWTH Visible and Infrared Imaging and Spectroscopy". The Astronomical Journal. 161 (116): 116. arXiv: 2011.03782 . Bibcode:2021AJ....161..116B. doi: 10.3847/1538-3881/abd94b . S2CID   234356588.
    12. 1 2 3 Licandro, Javier; de Leon, Julia; Moreno, Fernando; de la Fuente Marcos, Carlos; de la Fuente Marcos, Raúl; Cabrera-Lavers, Antonio; Lara, Luisa; de Souza-Feliciano, Ana Carolina; De Prá, Mario; Pinilla-Alonso, Noemi; Geier, Stefan (8 June 2021). "Activity of the Jupiter co-orbital comet P/2019 LD2 (ATLAS) observed with OSIRIS at the 10.4 m GTC". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 650: A79 (10 pp). arXiv: 2103.14613 . Bibcode:2021A&A...650A..79L. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202038842. S2CID   232380303.
    13. ↑ Bruton, D. "Conversion of Absolute Magnitude to Diameter for Minor Planets". Department of Physics, Engineering, and Astronomy. Stephen F. Austin State University. Archived from the original on 23 July 2011. Retrieved 21 May 2020.
    14. ↑ "LCDB Data for 2019 LD2 – Not in Data Base". Asteroid Lightcurve Database (LCDB). Retrieved 21 May 2020.
    This page is based on this Wikipedia article
    Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
    Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.