MONET PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF MAIN BELT COMETS Vidojevica 2011 Ivan Milić Andrej Obuljen Stanislav Milošević

Main Belt  The asteroid belt (main belt) is the region of the Solar System located between the orbits of the planets Mars and Jupiter  A small group of objects with orbits close to the main asteroid belt are displaying cometary activity

Main Belt

Main Belt Comets  Comets originally come from the outer solar system  Main belt comets are objects from asteroid belt, which are displaying cometary activity  The origin of their cometary activity is not fully explained

Comets and asteroids  Comets - a small body in the Solar System that is found to display a diffuse developing coma and that contains a monolithic nucleus consisting of ice and dust grains  Asteroids – solid rock  Comets-elongated orbits ; asteroids-near- circular orbits  Some intermediate objects – properties that are typical of both categories.

 On August 7, 1996 Eric W. Elst discovered intermediate object that showed a cometary tail and was designated as 133P/Elst-Pizarro, while moving in a typical asteroidal orbit in the MBA.  This was the first known “Main Belt Comet”

 There are seven objects classified as a Main Belt Comets:  P/Elst-Pizarro  P/Linear  P/Read (P/2005 U1)  4. P/2008 R1 (Garradd)  5. P/2010 A2 (Linear)  6. P/2010 R2 (La Sagra)  Scheila

 Our high priority objecrs are: 176P/Linear, 238P/Read (P/2005 U1), P/2010 R2 (La Sagra) La Sagra is of special interest since it is recently descovered object with only a small amount of collected data

Goals:  Collect photometrical data of Main Belt Comets  Study their physical characteristics  Rotational periods  Colors

 First part of the project was a broad-band color study of these objects  By imaging in three different filters we will be able to construct color diagrams  Filters are:  1. R (660 nm)  2. V (550 nm)

Filter NameDescription Central Wavelength [nm] FWHM [nm] Peak Wavelength [nm] T_max [%] noneno filter(CCD) clearBG glass(CCD) 97% UJohnson-Bessel uv % B Johnson-Bessel blue % V Johnson-Bessel visual % R Johnson-Bessel red % I Johnson-Bessel infrared % Sloan g' SDSS green % Sloan r' SDSS red % Halphaneutral hydrogen655.8/ % OIIItwice ionized oxygen498.20/ / % Sloan z'SDSS near-IR> %

 Second part of the project will be a study of their rotational periods  If the observed object have no developed comas, it should be possible to determine their rotational periods using differential photometry  Beside the study of their physical characteristics we will be able to produce new astrometrical follow –up measurements which will be reported to the Minor Planet Center

Some information for La Sagra filterEx time (s) focusDescriptionLocal time (start) Local time (end) R images V images

238P/Read *comment: satellite flow over at filterEx time (s) focusDescriptionLocal time (start) Local time (end) R images V images

Equipment that is used  Telescope/Mode: MONET/North (robotic telescope 1.2m)  Detector: CCD camera  Filters: R, V  Targets: MBC with magnitude range from mag.~15.0 till ~21.0 (La Sagra: mag. 18.4)

We don’t have final results, because the reduction is not finished yet!

Project requirements Training of teachers (student mentors) performed by:  Science and Education Center,Višnjan, Croatia  Petnica Science Center, Valjevo, Serbia  Astronomical Observatory, Belgrade, Serbia  Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece High school student projects-carried out by the schools:  Vladimir Prelog Scince School, Zagreb, Croatia  Petnica Science Center, Valjevo, Serbia  Gymnassium of Goumenissa, Kilkis, Greece  Second Lyceum of Echedoros, Thessaloniki, Greece

Educational gains  Guided a large number of high school students through the process of scientific experiment  Educated students about recent technological developments in astronomy, using the example of robotic telescopes and sensitive CCD detectors  Exposed students to the importance of databases of astronomical images and measurements  International cooperation in science

Thank you for you attention!