CONSTRAINTS ON THE PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF MAIN BELT COMET P/2013 R3 FROM ITS BREAKUP EVENT

Jewitt et al. recently reported that main belt comet P/2013 R3 experienced a breakup, probably due to rotational disruption, with its components separating on mutually hyperbolic orbits. We propose a technique for constraining physical properties of the proto-body, especially the initial spin period...

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Veröffentlicht in:Astrophysical journal. Letters 2014-07, Vol.789 (1), p.L12
Hauptverfasser: Hirabayashi, Masatoshi, Scheeres, Daniel J., Sánchez, Diego Paul, Gabriel, Travis
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Sprache:eng
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Zusammenfassung:Jewitt et al. recently reported that main belt comet P/2013 R3 experienced a breakup, probably due to rotational disruption, with its components separating on mutually hyperbolic orbits. We propose a technique for constraining physical properties of the proto-body, especially the initial spin period and cohesive strength, as a function of the body's estimated size and density. The breakup conditions are developed by combining mutual orbit dynamics of the smaller components and the failure condition of the proto-body. Given a proto-body with a bulk density ranging from 1000 kg m{sup –3} to 1500 kg m{sup –3} (a typical range of the bulk density of C-type asteroids), we obtain possible values of the cohesive strength (40-210 Pa) and the initial spin state (0.48-1.9 hr). From this result, we conclude that although the proto-body could have been a rubble pile, it was likely spinning beyond its gravitational binding limit and would have needed cohesive strength to hold itself together. Additional observations of P/2013 R3 will enable stronger constraints on this event, and the present technique will be able to give more precise estimates of its internal structure.
ISSN:2041-8205
2041-8213
DOI:10.1088/2041-8205/789/1/L12