Main-belt comet P/2008 R1 (Garradd)

Abstract

We present a study of the newly discovered main-belt comet P/2008 R1 (Garradd), an object with the dynamical characteristics of an asteroid and the physical characteristics of a comet. Photometry sets a limit to the effective radius of the nucleus at re < 0.7 km (red geometric albedo 0.05 assumed). The coma shows a secular fading in our data caused by the escape of dust particles from the near-nucleus environment. The optical reflection spectrum is a nearly neutral continuum devoid of gaseous emission lines, from which we derive a limit to the cyanide (CN) radical production rate of Q CN < 1.4 × 1023 s-1 and infer a mass-loss rate <1.5 kg s-1 at the time of our observations. Unlike the first-reported main-belt comets, P/2008 R1 is not dynamically stable. The nearby 8:3 mean-motion resonance with Jupiter induces dynamical instability on timescales 20-30 Myr. Hence, we conclude that P/2008 R1 has recently arrived from a more stable source elsewhere. The high Tisserand parameter of the orbit (in fact, with TJ = 3.216 it is the highest of any comet) points to a source in the asteroid belt itself, instead of in the Kuiper belt (putative source of the Jupiter family comets). We infer that P/2008 R1 is an icy body from the outer asteroid belt in which sublimation has been triggered by rising temperatures resulting from a decreasing perihelion distance. © 2009. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.