P/2010 A2 LINEAR II: dynamical dust modelling

TL;DR

This paper models the debris from P/2010 A2's collision, confirming it was a one-time impact event with low surface strength, and provides insights into the debris cone and velocity distribution.

Contribution

It introduces a conical burst model to analyze P/2010 A2's debris, confirming a collisional origin and estimating the surface strength of the object.

Findings

Debris cone opening angle of 40-50 degrees matches cratering simulations.

Debris velocities suggest a very low surface strength (<1 kPa).

Debris features correspond to the inferred impact cone.

Abstract

P/2010 A2 is an object on an asteroidal orbit that was observed to have an extended tail or debris trail in January 2010. In this work, we fit the outburst of P/2010 A2 with a conical burst model, and verify previous suspicions that this was a one--time collisional event rather than an sustained cometary outburst, implying that P/2010 A2 is not a new Main Belt Comet driven by ice sublimation. We find that the best--fit cone opening angle is about 40 to 50 degrees, in agreement with numerical and laboratory simulations of cratering events. Mapping debris orbits to sky positions suggests that the distinctive arc features in the debris correspond to the same debris cone inferred from the extended dust. From the velocity of the debris, and from the presence of a velocity maximum at around 15 cm/s, we infer that the surface of A2 probably has a very low strength (<1 kPa), comparable to lunar regolith.