A Search for the Lost Comet P/2010 H2 (Vales)

TL;DR

This study reports the non-detection of the lost comet P/2010 H2 (Vales) during recent observations, constraining its size and activity, and discusses implications for future detection strategies of similar objects.

Contribution

First comprehensive search for P/Vales post-outburst using multiple telescopes, setting new limits on its size and activity, and highlighting detection challenges.

Findings

No detection of P/Vales in 2015, 2025, or 2023 data.

Nucleus size constrained to less than 0.5 km diameter.

Detection is challenging for current survey telescopes like Rubin Observatory.

Abstract

Short-period comet P/2010 H2 (Vales) underwent a significant outburst of $>7.5$~mag in 2010 and has not been detected since that apparition. Here we report our recovery attempt of P/Vales using the 4.3-m Lowell Discovery Telescope (LDT) during its 2015 and 2025 apparitions, as well as the data from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) taken in 2023. With the LDT data, we did not detect the comet within the $3\sigma$ positional uncertainty ellipse to a $3\sigma$ limiting magnitude of $r\sim25$, corresponding to an absolute nuclear magnitude of $20.6$, or a diameter of $0.5$~km assuming a geometric albedo of 0.04. Similarly, the TESS data reveals no comet or debris trail, providing no direct evidence for a disruption event although not precluding one. The new constraint on the nucleus size tightens the range of viable activity mechanisms for P/Vales and is most consistent with a recently implanted, weakly processed nucleus. Our non-detection of P/Vales down to $m_r=25$ shows that objects like this are difficult to detect in their inactive state with Rubin Observatory, but shift-and-stack techniques and targeted observations on 10-m-class telescopes can provide more useful constraints on these objects.