Abstract
Abstract We report on observations of activity in near-Earth object (3552) Don Quixote using the Spitzer Space Telescope and ground-based telescopes around its 2018 perihelion passage. Spitzer observations obtained six months before perihelion show extended emission around the target’s nucleus that is most likely caused by molecular band emission from either CO2 or CO, but we find no significant emission from dust. Ground-based optical observations taken close to perihelion reveal for the first time activity in the optical wavelengths, which we attribute to solar light reflected from dust particles. IRAM millimeter radio observations taken around the same time are unable to rule out CO as the driver of the molecular band emission observed with Spitzer. The comparison of the gas activity presented here with observations performed during Don Quixote’s previous apparition suggests that activity in Don Quixote is recurrent. We conclude that (3552) Don Quixote is most likely a weakly active comet.
Highlights
Near-Earth object 3552 Don Quixote (1983 SA) was discovered on 1983 September 26 by P
In agreement with previous Spitzer Space Telescope observations of Don Quixote (Mommert et al 2014), we find extended emission around the nucleus in CH2 at 4.5 μm, but not so in CH1 at 3.6 μm If dust were present in these observations, any emission in CH1 could be attributed to sunlight reflected off dust particles, while emission in CH2 consists of a mixture of thermal emission from dust and reflected sunlight (Reach et al 2013)
Scaling the CO2 production rate we derived from our Spitzer observations to this expected sublimation rate, we find an active area of 6500 m2, which corresponds to 5 × 10−6 of the total convex surface area of Don Quixote (Section 3.4), or a circular patch with a radius of ∼45 m
Summary
Near-Earth object 3552 Don Quixote (1983 SA) was discovered on 1983 September 26 by P. Physical characterization over the following years revealed further hints at a potentially cometary origin of this body: using thermal-infrared observations, Veeder et al (1989) found a low, comet-like, surface albedo, which was later confirmed with Spitzer Space Telescope observations (Mommert et al 2014), and spectroscopic observations found a reflective behavior most similar to D-type asteroids (Hartmann et al 1987; Binzel et al 2004; Mommert et al 2014), which in turn resembles the spectra of comets (DeMeo & Binzel 2008). Simulations by Rudawska & Vaubaillon (2015) find correlations between the orbit of Don Quixote and observed meteor streams. All of these observations hint toward a cometary nature of this body
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