# New Active Asteroid 2015 VA108: A Citizen Science Discovery

## TL;DR

This paper reports the discovery of cometary activity in main-belt asteroid 2015 VA108, identified through citizen science efforts and archival image analysis, suggesting it may be a main-belt comet.

## Contribution

First detection of activity in asteroid 2015 VA108 through citizen science and archival data, indicating potential volatile sublimation in a main-belt asteroid.

## Key findings

- Activity observed near perihelion with a cometary tail
- Discovery made through citizen science project
- Archival images confirm activity presence

## Abstract

We announce the discovery of activity, in the form of a distinct cometary tail, emerging from main-belt asteroid 2015 VA108. Activity was first identified by volunteers of the Citizen Science project Active Asteroids (a NASA Partner). We uncovered one additional image from the same observing run which also unambiguously shows 2015 VA108 with a tail oriented between the anti-solar and anti-motion vectors that are often correlated with activity orientation on sky. Both publicly available archival images were originally acquired UT 2015 October 11 with the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) on the Blanco 4 m telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (Chile) as part of the Dark Energy Camera Legacy Survey. Activity occurred near perihelion and, combined with its residence in the main asteroid belt, 2015 VA108 is a candidate main-belt comet, an active asteroid subset known for volatile sublimation.