Nucleus and Mass Loss from Active Asteroid 313P/Gibbs

TL;DR

This study uses Hubble observations to analyze the activity of asteroid 313P/Gibbs, revealing sublimation-driven mass loss likely caused by shadowed ice patches, with implications for the asteroid's surface and sublimation longevity.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed analysis of 313P/Gibbs's activity, proposing a shadowed sublimation model and estimating nucleus properties and dust ejection parameters.

Findings

Mass loss peaks at ~1 kg/s and declines over months.

Dust ejected continuously with large particles (~50 μm).

Estimated nucleus radius is 700±100 m.

Abstract

We present Hubble Space Telescope observations of active asteroid 313P/Gibbs (formerly P/2014 S4) taken over the five month interval from 2014 October to 2015 March. This object has been recurrently active near perihelion (at 2.4 AU) in two different orbits, a property that is naturally explained by the sublimation of near surface ice but which is difficult to reconcile with other activity mechanisms. We find that the mass loss peaks near 1 kg s$^{-1}$ in October and then declines over the subsequent months by about a factor of five, at nearly constant heliocentric distance. This decrease is too large to be caused by the change in heliocentric distance during the period of observation. However, it is consistent with sublimation from an ice patch shadowed by local topography, for example in a pit like those observed on the nuclei of short-period comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. While no unique interpretation is possible, a simple self shadowing model shows that sublimation from a pit with depth to diameter ratio near 1/2 matches the observed rate of decline of the activity, while deeper and shallower pits do not. We estimate the nucleus radius to be 700$\pm$100 m (geometric albedo 0.05 assumed). Measurements of the spatial distribution of the dust were obtained from different viewing geometries. They show that dust was ejected continuously not impulsively, that the effective particle size is large, $\sim$50 $\mu m$, and that the ejection speed is $\sim$2.5 m s$^{-1}$. The total dust mass ejected is $\sim$10$^7$ kg, corresponding to $\sim$10$^{-5}$ of the nucleus mass. The observations are consistent with partially shadowed sublimation from $\sim$10$^4$ m$^2$ of ice, corresponding to $\sim$0.2\% of the nucleus surface. For ice to survive in 313P for billion-year timescales requires that the duty cycle for sublimation be $\lesssim$10$^{-3}$.