Main Belt Comets: A new class of small bodies in the solar system |
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| Authors: | Ivano Bertini |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Astronomy, University of Padova, Vic. Osservatorio 3, 35122 Padova, Italy;2. Center of Studies and Activities for Space G. Colombo, University of Padova, Via Venezia 15, 35131 Padova, Italy;1. Graduate School of Science, Kobe University, c/o CPS (Center for Planetary Science), Chuo-ku Minatojima Minamimachi 7-1-48, Kobe 650-0047, Japan;2. Planetary Data System Group, Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA;3. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Missouri, 314 Physics Building, Columbia, MO 65211, USA;4. Graduate School of Science, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya 464-8602, Japan;5. Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Heidelberg, Laboratory Astrophysics and Clusterphysics Group at the Institute of Solid State Physics, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Helmholtzweg 3, 07743 Jena, Germany;6. Université Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, IPAG, F-38000 Frenoble, France;1. Planetary Science Institute, 1700 E. Fort Lowell Road, Suite 106, Tucson, AZ 85719, United States;2. University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, United States;1. Institute of Geophysics, UNAM, Mexico;2. Institute of Astronomy, UNAM, Mexico;3. Swedish Space Science Institute, Sweden;1. British Astronomical Association, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London W1J 0DU, UK;2. DLR – German Aerospace Center, Institute of Planetary Research, Rutherfordstrasse 2, 12489 Berlin, Germany;3. Astronomical Society of Linz, Johannes-Kepler-Observatory, Sternwarteweg 5, 4020 Linz, Austria;4. School of Physics and Astronomy, Cardiff University, The Parade, Cardiff CF24 3AA, UK;5. Des Etoiles Pour Tous, 19 Rue Saint Laurent, 77320 Saint Martin du Boschet, France |
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| Abstract: | Comets and asteroids have traditionally been considered two distinct separate populations of small bodies in the solar system, according to their different dynamical, observational, and compositional characteristics.The discovery of a new class of objects, the so-called, Main Belt Comets (MBCs), exhibiting a clear cometary activity but having at the same time orbits indistinguishable from the ones of asteroids in the Main Belt provided further evidence that asteroids and comets, rather than two distinct separate classes, represent the end-members of a continuum of small bodies, with compositions from the very rocky to the very icy.Their study is nowadays deepening our knowledge of the formation mechanisms of the solar system and of the distribution of volatile materials in the protoplanetary disk.In this paper the present knowledge of MBCs is reviewed in terms of physical properties derived from observations, dynamical studies about the origin and formation, thermal modeling of the nuclei, investigations about the activation mechanisms, and the eventual contribution to the presence of water on our planet. An overview of the large-scale surveys dedicated to their discovery and of the detection techniques used so far is also given. Moreover, open question and indications for future observations and modeling are outlined. |
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