The Volatile Composition and Activity Evolution of Main-belt Comet 358P/PANSTARRS
We report the detection of water vapor associated with main-belt comet 358P/PANSTARRS on UT 2024 January 8–9 using the NIRSPEC instrument on board JWST. We derive a water production rate of ${Q}_{{{\rm{H}}}_{2}{\rm{O}}}=(5.0\pm 0.2)\,\times {10}^{25}$ molecules s ^−1 , marking only the second direct...
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2025-01-01
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| author | Henry H. Hsieh John W. Noonan Michael S. P. Kelley Dennis Bodewits Jana Pittichová Audrey Thirouin Marco Micheli Matthew M. Knight Michele T. Bannister Colin O. Chandler Carrie E. Holt Matthew J. Hopkins Yaeji Kim Nicholas A. Moskovitz William J. Oldroyd Jack Patterson Scott S. Sheppard Nicole Tan Chadwick A. Trujillo Quanzhi Ye |
| author_facet | Henry H. Hsieh John W. Noonan Michael S. P. Kelley Dennis Bodewits Jana Pittichová Audrey Thirouin Marco Micheli Matthew M. Knight Michele T. Bannister Colin O. Chandler Carrie E. Holt Matthew J. Hopkins Yaeji Kim Nicholas A. Moskovitz William J. Oldroyd Jack Patterson Scott S. Sheppard Nicole Tan Chadwick A. Trujillo Quanzhi Ye |
| author_sort | Henry H. Hsieh |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | We report the detection of water vapor associated with main-belt comet 358P/PANSTARRS on UT 2024 January 8–9 using the NIRSPEC instrument on board JWST. We derive a water production rate of ${Q}_{{{\rm{H}}}_{2}{\rm{O}}}=(5.0\pm 0.2)\,\times {10}^{25}$ molecules s ^−1 , marking only the second direct detection of sublimation products of any kind from a main-belt comet, after 238P/Read. Similar to 238P, we find a remarkable absence of hypervolatile species, finding ${Q}_{{\mathrm{CO}}_{2}}\lt 7.6\times {10}^{22}$ molecules s ^−1 , corresponding to ${Q}_{{\mathrm{CO}}_{2}}/{Q}_{{{\rm{H}}}_{2}{\rm{O}}}\lt 0.2$ %. Upper limits on CH _3 OH and CO emission are also estimated. Photometry from ground-based observations shows that the dust coma brightened and faded slowly over ∼250 days in 2023–2024, consistent with photometric behavior observed in 2012–2013, but also indicates a ∼2.5× decline in the dust production rate between these two periods. Dynamical dust modeling shows that the coma’s morphology as imaged by JWST's NIRCam instrument on 2023 November 22 can be reproduced by asymmetric dust emission from a nucleus with a midrange obliquity ( ε ∼ 80°) with a steady-state mass-loss rate of ∼0.8 kg s ^−1 . Finally, we find similar Af ρ -to-gas ratios of ${\mathrm{log}}_{10}({Af}\rho /{Q}_{{{\rm{H}}}_{2}{\rm{O}}})=-24.8\pm 0.2$ for 358P and ${\mathrm{log}}_{10}({Af}\rho /{Q}_{{{\rm{H}}}_{2}{\rm{O}}})=-24.4\pm 0.2$ for 238P, suggesting that Af ρ could serve as an effective proxy for estimating water production rates in other active main-belt comets. The confirmation of water vapor outgassing in both main-belt comets observed by JWST to date reinforces the use of recurrent activity near perihelion as an indicator of sublimation-driven activity in active asteroids. |
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| institution | Kabale University |
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| spelling | doaj-art-b2a340254bb14462a589b09fb5d069252025-01-03T07:17:28ZengIOP PublishingThe Planetary Science Journal2632-33382025-01-0161310.3847/PSJ/ad9199The Volatile Composition and Activity Evolution of Main-belt Comet 358P/PANSTARRSHenry H. Hsieh0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7225-9271John W. Noonan1https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2152-6987Michael S. P. Kelley2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6702-7676Dennis Bodewits3https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2668-7248Jana Pittichová4https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5736-1857Audrey Thirouin5https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1506-4248Marco Micheli6https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7895-8209Matthew M. Knight7https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2781-6897Michele T. Bannister8https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3257-4490Colin O. Chandler9https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7335-1715Carrie E. Holt10https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4043-6445Matthew J. Hopkins11https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6314-873XYaeji Kim12https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9042-408XNicholas A. Moskovitz13https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6765-6336William J. Oldroyd14https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5750-4953Jack Patterson15https://orcid.org/0009-0001-1692-4676Scott S. Sheppard16https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3145-8682Nicole Tan17https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6541-8887Chadwick A. Trujillo18https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9859-0894Quanzhi Ye19https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4838-7676Planetary Science Institute , 1700 East Fort Lowell Road, Suite 106, Tucson, AZ 85719, USA ; hhsieh@psi.edu; Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics , Academia Sinica, P.O. Box 23-141, Taipei 10617, TaiwanDepartment of Physics, Auburn University , Edmund C. Leach Science Center, Auburn, AL 36849, USADepartment of Astronomy, University of Maryland , 1113 Physical Sciences Complex, Building 415, College Park, MD 20742, USADepartment of Physics, Auburn University , Edmund C. Leach Science Center, Auburn, AL 36849, USAJet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology , 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109, USALowell Observatory , 1400 West Mars Hill Road, Flagstaff, AZ 86001, USAESA PDO NEO Coordination Centre , Largo Galileo Galilei, 1, I-00044 Frascati (RM), ItalyDepartment of Astronomy, University of Maryland , 1113 Physical Sciences Complex, Building 415, College Park, MD 20742, USA; Physics Department, U.S. Naval Academy , 572C Holloway Road, Annapolis, MD 21402, USASchool of Physical and Chemical Sciences—Te Kura Matū, University of Canterbury , Christchurch 8041, New ZealandDepartment of Astronomy & the DiRAC Institute, University of Washington , 3910 15th Avenue NE, Seattle, WA 98195, USA; LSST Interdisciplinary Network for Collaboration and Computing , 933 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA; Department of Astronomy & Planetary Science, Northern Arizona University , P.O. Box 6010, Flagstaff, AZ 86011, USA; Raw Data Speaks Initiative , USADepartment of Astronomy, University of Maryland , 1113 Physical Sciences Complex, Building 415, College Park, MD 20742, USA; Las Cumbres Observatory , 6740 Cortona Drive, Suite 102, Goleta, CA 93117, USASchool of Physical and Chemical Sciences—Te Kura Matū, University of Canterbury , Christchurch 8041, New ZealandDepartment of Astronomy, University of Maryland , 1113 Physical Sciences Complex, Building 415, College Park, MD 20742, USALowell Observatory , 1400 West Mars Hill Road, Flagstaff, AZ 86001, USADepartment of Astronomy & Planetary Science, Northern Arizona University , P.O. Box 6010, Flagstaff, AZ 86011, USASchool of Physical and Chemical Sciences—Te Kura Matū, University of Canterbury , Christchurch 8041, New ZealandEarth and Planets Laboratory, Carnegie Institution for Science , 5241 Broad Branch Road NW, Washington, DC 20015, USASchool of Physical and Chemical Sciences—Te Kura Matū, University of Canterbury , Christchurch 8041, New ZealandDepartment of Astronomy & Planetary Science, Northern Arizona University , P.O. Box 6010, Flagstaff, AZ 86011, USADepartment of Astronomy, University of Maryland , 1113 Physical Sciences Complex, Building 415, College Park, MD 20742, USA; Center for Space Physics, Boston University , 725 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA 02215, USAWe report the detection of water vapor associated with main-belt comet 358P/PANSTARRS on UT 2024 January 8–9 using the NIRSPEC instrument on board JWST. We derive a water production rate of ${Q}_{{{\rm{H}}}_{2}{\rm{O}}}=(5.0\pm 0.2)\,\times {10}^{25}$ molecules s ^−1 , marking only the second direct detection of sublimation products of any kind from a main-belt comet, after 238P/Read. Similar to 238P, we find a remarkable absence of hypervolatile species, finding ${Q}_{{\mathrm{CO}}_{2}}\lt 7.6\times {10}^{22}$ molecules s ^−1 , corresponding to ${Q}_{{\mathrm{CO}}_{2}}/{Q}_{{{\rm{H}}}_{2}{\rm{O}}}\lt 0.2$ %. Upper limits on CH _3 OH and CO emission are also estimated. Photometry from ground-based observations shows that the dust coma brightened and faded slowly over ∼250 days in 2023–2024, consistent with photometric behavior observed in 2012–2013, but also indicates a ∼2.5× decline in the dust production rate between these two periods. Dynamical dust modeling shows that the coma’s morphology as imaged by JWST's NIRCam instrument on 2023 November 22 can be reproduced by asymmetric dust emission from a nucleus with a midrange obliquity ( ε ∼ 80°) with a steady-state mass-loss rate of ∼0.8 kg s ^−1 . Finally, we find similar Af ρ -to-gas ratios of ${\mathrm{log}}_{10}({Af}\rho /{Q}_{{{\rm{H}}}_{2}{\rm{O}}})=-24.8\pm 0.2$ for 358P and ${\mathrm{log}}_{10}({Af}\rho /{Q}_{{{\rm{H}}}_{2}{\rm{O}}})=-24.4\pm 0.2$ for 238P, suggesting that Af ρ could serve as an effective proxy for estimating water production rates in other active main-belt comets. The confirmation of water vapor outgassing in both main-belt comets observed by JWST to date reinforces the use of recurrent activity near perihelion as an indicator of sublimation-driven activity in active asteroids.https://doi.org/10.3847/PSJ/ad9199Main-belt cometsCometsSmall Solar System bodiesMain belt asteroids |
| spellingShingle | Henry H. Hsieh John W. Noonan Michael S. P. Kelley Dennis Bodewits Jana Pittichová Audrey Thirouin Marco Micheli Matthew M. Knight Michele T. Bannister Colin O. Chandler Carrie E. Holt Matthew J. Hopkins Yaeji Kim Nicholas A. Moskovitz William J. Oldroyd Jack Patterson Scott S. Sheppard Nicole Tan Chadwick A. Trujillo Quanzhi Ye The Volatile Composition and Activity Evolution of Main-belt Comet 358P/PANSTARRS The Planetary Science Journal Main-belt comets Comets Small Solar System bodies Main belt asteroids |
| title | The Volatile Composition and Activity Evolution of Main-belt Comet 358P/PANSTARRS |
| title_full | The Volatile Composition and Activity Evolution of Main-belt Comet 358P/PANSTARRS |
| title_fullStr | The Volatile Composition and Activity Evolution of Main-belt Comet 358P/PANSTARRS |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Volatile Composition and Activity Evolution of Main-belt Comet 358P/PANSTARRS |
| title_short | The Volatile Composition and Activity Evolution of Main-belt Comet 358P/PANSTARRS |
| title_sort | volatile composition and activity evolution of main belt comet 358p panstarrs |
| topic | Main-belt comets Comets Small Solar System bodies Main belt asteroids |
| url | https://doi.org/10.3847/PSJ/ad9199 |
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