354P/LINEAR

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354P/LINEAR

354P/LINEAR, provisionally designated P/2010 A2 (LINEAR), is a small main-belt asteroid that was impacted by another asteroid sometime before 2010. It was discovered by the Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research (LINEAR) at Socorro, New Mexico on 6 January 2010. The asteroid possesses a dusty, X-shaped, comet-like debris trail that has remained nearly a decade since impact.[5] This was the first time a small-body collision had been observed; since then, minor planet 596 Scheila has also been seen to undergo a collision, in late 2010. The tail is created by millimeter-sized particles being pushed back by solar radiation pressure.[7][8]

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354P/LINEAR
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Hubble Space Telescope image of 354P/LINEAR with dusty impact debris on 2 February 2010
Discovery[1]
Discovered byLINEAR (704)
Discovery date6 January 2010
Designations
Orbital characteristics[3]
Epoch 13 October 2010 (JD 2455482.5)
Aphelion2.58 AU (Q)
Perihelion2.01 AU (q)
2.29 AU (a)
Eccentricity0.1246
3.47 yr
88.9° (M)
Inclination5.25°
320°
2023-Oct-13[4]
133°
Physical characteristics
Dimensions172.4 × 88.8 m[5]
123.8+33.6
−18.4
 m
[5]
11.36±0.02 h
Albedounknown
~18-20[1]
21.3±0.6[6]
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    Discovery

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    Orbit of P/2010 A2 at the time of its discovery

    P/2010 A2 was discovered on 6 January 2010 by Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research (LINEAR) using a 1-meter (36") reflecting telescope with a CCD camera.[1] It was LINEAR's 193rd comet discovery.[9][10] It has been observed over a 112-day arc of the 3.5 year orbit.[3] It appears to have come to perihelion (closest approach to the Sun) around the start of December 2009,[3] about a month before it was discovered.

    Orbit

    With an aphelion (furthest distance from the Sun) of only 2.6 AU,[3] P/2010 A2 spends all of its time inside of the frost line at 2.7 AU.[11] Beyond the frostline volatile ices are generally more common. Early observations did not detect water vapor or other gases.[12] Within less than a month of its discovery it was doubtful that the tail of P/2010 A2 was generated via active outgassing from sublimation of ices hidden beneath the crust.[13] Early modeling indicated that the asteroid became active in late March 2009, reached maximum activity in early June 2009, and eased activity in early December 2009.[14]'

    The orbit of P/2010 A2 is consistent with membership in the Flora asteroid family, produced by collisional shattering more than 100 million years ago.[12] The Flora family of asteroids may be the source of the Chicxulub (Cretaceous–Paleogene) impactor, the likely culprit in the extinction of the dinosaurs.[12] One asteroid of the Flora family, 2010 AA15, was initially suspected to have collided with P/2010 A2 due to their very similar orbits, but was later deemed a coincidence.[15][16]

    Cause of activity

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    354P/LINEAR as seen an 8 min photo with a 24" telescope

    Observations with the Hubble Space Telescope[17] and the narrow angle camera on board the Rosetta spacecraft[18] indicate that the dust trail seen was probably created by the impact of a small meter size object on the larger asteroid in February or March 2009, although it cannot be ruled out that the asteroid's rotation increased from solar radiation resulting in a loss of mass that formed a comet-like tail.[19]

    P/2010 A2 is likely about 150 meters (460 feet) in diameter.[12] Even when it was discovered it was suspected of being less than 500 meters in diameter.[20]

    Debris field
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    P/2010 A2 is likely the debris left over from a recent collision between two very small asteroids.
    Surviving fragment
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    Surviving fragment seen to the lower left of debris field

    See also

    References

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