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The Comet – Asteroid Transition: Recent Telescopic Observations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 July 2016

Lucy-Ann Mcfadden
Lucy-Ann Mcfadden*
Affiliation:
Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742 California Space Institute, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093 E-mail mcfadden@astro.umd.edu

Abstract

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The phenomenon of a comet-asteroid transition presents the opportunity to study the comet reservoir in comparison to that from which asteroids are derived and to understand the evolution of comets. I discuss six significant areas which have impacted understanding of the comet-asteroid transition from recent years: new discoveries, discovery of dust and volatile comae at 2060 Chiron, observations of comet nuclei, observations of extinct-comet candidates, observations of dust trails associated with short period comets, and discovery of a dust tail on a prediscovery image of 4015 Wilson-Harrington. It is currently possible to recognize an object only as either a comet or an asteroid. There is currently insufficient information to recognize dormant or extinct cometary nuclei, though this is certainly the major goal being sought.

Type
Populations of Small Bodies
Information
Symposium - International Astronomical Union , Volume 160: Asteroids, Comets, Meteors 1993 , 1994 , pp. 95 - 110
Copyright
Copyright © Kluwer 1994 

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