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238P/Read

Main-belt comet

Field	Value
background	#FFE0C2
name	238P/Read
P/2005 U1
image	Comet 238P Read (NIRCam Image).png
caption	Comet 238P/Read by the James Webb Space Telescope on September 8, 2022
discoverer	Michael T. Read
(Spacewatch)
discovered	24 October 2005
mp_category	Main-belt comet
Encke-type comet
orbit_ref
epoch	7 January 2006
uncertainty	1
aphelion	3.9645 AU (Q)
perihelion	2.3647 AU (q)
time_periastron	2028-Jan-24{{cite web
title	Horizons Batch for 238P/Read on 2028-Jan-24
publisher	JPL Horizons
type	Perihelion occurs when rdot flips from negative to positive
url	https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/horizons_batch.cgi?batch=1&COMMAND=%27238P%27&START_TIME=%272028-Jan-24%27&STOP_TIME=%272028-Jan-25%27&STEP_SIZE=%273%20hours%27&QUANTITIES=%2719%27
accessdate	2023-04-30}} (JPL#37/Soln.date: 2023-Jan-03)
2022-Jun-05 (previous)
semimajor	3.1646 AU (a)
eccentricity	0.25277
period	5.63 yr
inclination	1.2662°
asc_node	51.647°
mean_anomaly	28.566° (M)
arg_peri	325.76°
tisserand	3.153
mean_diameter	0.6 km (approx.)
density	(assumed)
albedo	0.04 (assumed)
temp_name1	Kelvin
min_temp_1	142 K
mean_temp_1	159 K
max_temp_1	184 K
magnitude	19.62 to 23.41
abs_magnitude	R

P/2005 U1 (Spacewatch) Encke-type comet 2022-Jun-05 (previous)

238P/Read (P/2005 U1) is a main-belt comet discovered on 24 October 2005 by astronomer Michael T. Read using the Spacewatch 36-inch telescope on Kitt Peak National Observatory. It has an orbit within the asteroid belt and has displayed the coma of a traditional comet. It fits the definition of an Encke-type comet with (TJupiter 3; a Jupiter).

Description

Before it was discovered came to perihelion on 2005 July 27. When it was discovered on 2005 October 24, it showed vigorous cometary activity until 2005 December 27. Outgassing likely began at least 2 months before discovery. The activity of is much stronger than 133P/Elst-Pizarro and 176P/LINEAR. This may indicate that the impact assumed to have triggered 's activity occurred very recently.

Observations of when it was inactive in 2007 suggests that it has a small nucleus only about 0.6 km in diameter.

It came to perihelion on 2011 March 10, 2016 October 22. and 2022 June 5. It will next come to perihelion on 2028 January 24.

was the target of a mission proposal in NASA's Discovery Program in the 2010s called Proteus, however it was not selected for further development. Discovery program's founding mission was to an asteroid, but it went to a Near-Earth asteroid. A mission to a main-belt asteroid was proposed in the 1990s (also see Deep Impact (spacecraft)).

The comet was observed by James Webb Space Telescope during the 2022 perihelion and it was found spectrographicaly that its coma was composed by water vapor, due to water sublimation, and lacked significant coma.

References

(15 May 2023). "Spectroscopic identification of water emission from a main-belt comet". Nature.
"PROTEUS – A MISSION TO INVESTIGATE THE ORIGIN OF EARTH'S WATER: CREATING HABITABLE WORLDS". Astrobiology Science Conference 2015.
"Technical Digest".
[http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/discover95.txt Discover 95 : MISSIONS TO THE MOON, SUN, VENUS AND A COMET PICKED FOR DISCOVERY - NASA]

Info: Wikipedia Source

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active-asteroids encke-type-comets numbered-comets astronomical-objects-discovered-in-2005

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