Abstract We report the discovery of cometary activity emanating from Main-belt asteroid 410590 (2008 GB140), a finding facilitated, for the first time, by an artificial intelligence (AI) assistant. The assistant,TailNet, is a prototype we designed to enhance volunteer efforts of our Citizen Science projectActive Asteroids, a NASA Partner program hosted on theZooniverseplatform. Our follow-up investigation revealed eight Dark Energy Camera images showing 2008 GB140with a tail spanning UT 2023 April 23–UT 2023 July 3, when the object was inbound to perihelion. We classify 2008 GB140as an active asteroid and a candidate Main-belt comet (MBC)—a main-belt asteroid that undergoes volatile sublimation-driven activity. Notably, 2008 GB140is presently near perihelion, thus the object is a prime target for follow-up observations to further characterize its activity.
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New Active Quasi-Hilda Asteroid 2004 CV50: A Citizen Science Discovery
Abstract We report that minor planet 2004 CV50displayed cometary activity in the form of a short, diffuse tail, first identified by volunteers of the Citizen Science programActive Asteroids, a NASA Partner program hosted on theZooniverseonline platform. The activity is present in three images, from UT 2020 February 15 and UT 2020 March 14, that were acquired with the Dark Energy Camera on the Blanco 4 m telescope at the Cerro-Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. We find that 2004 CV50is most likely an active quasi-Hilda object rather than an active asteroid, despite 2004 CV50having a Tisserand parameter with respect to Jupiter of 3.06.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1950901
- PAR ID:
- 10497428
- Publisher / Repository:
- IOP
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Research Notes of the AAS
- Volume:
- 7
- Issue:
- 11
- ISSN:
- 2515-5172
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 237
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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