Nucleus of active asteroid 358P/Pan-STARRS (P/2012 T1)

¹ Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Justus-von-Liebig-Weg 3, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
e-mail: agarwal@mps.mpg.de
² Lowell Observatory, 1400 W Mars Hill Rd, Flagstaff, AZ 86001, USA
³ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Northern Arizona University, PO Box 6010, Flagstaff, AZ 86011, USA

Received: 2 February 2018
Accepted: 17 May 2018

Abstract

Context. The dust emission from active asteroids is likely driven by collisions, fast rotation, sublimation of embedded ice, and combinations of these. Characterising these processes leads to a better understanding of their respective influence on the evolution of the asteroid population.

Aims. We study the role of fast rotation in the active asteroid 358P (P 2012/T1).

Methods. We obtained two nights of deep imaging of 358P with SOAR/Goodman and VLT/FORS2. We derived the rotational light curve from time-resolved photometry and searched for large fragments and debris >8 mm in a stacked, ultra-deep image.

Results. The nucleus has an absolute magnitude of m_R = 19.68, corresponding to a diameter of 530 m for standard assumptions on the albedo and phase function of a C-type asteroid. We do not detect fragments or debris that would require fast rotation to reduce surface gravity to facilitate their escape. The 10-h light curve does not show an unambiguous periodicity.