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Abstract We present the discovery of activity emanating from main-belt asteroid 2015 FW412, a finding stemming from the Citizen Science projectActive Asteroids, a NASA Partner program. We identified a pronounced tail originating from 2015 FW412and oriented in the anti-motion direction in archival Blanco 4 m (Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, Chile) Dark Energy Camera images from UT 2015 April 13, 18, 19, 21 and 22. Activity occurred near perihelion, consistent with the main-belt comets (MBCs), an active asteroid subset known for sublimation-driven activity in the main asteroid belt; thus 2015 FW412is a candidate MBC. We did not detect activity on UT 2021 December 12 using the Inamori-Magellan Areal Camera and Spectrograph on the 6.5 m Baade telescope, when 2015 FW412was near aphelion.
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This content will become publicly available on January 3, 2026
AI-enhanced Citizen Science Discovers Cometary Activity on Near-Earth Object (523822) 2012 DG61
Abstract We report the discovery of cometary activity in the form of a pronounced tail emanating from Near-Earth Object (523822) 2012 DG61, identified in UT 2024 April 18 Dark Energy Camera images by our AI assistant TailNet. TailNet is an AI designed to filter out images unlikely to show activity for volunteers of our NASA Partner “Active Asteroids” Citizen Science campaign, from which our AI is trained. Subsequently, our archival investigation revealed 2012 DG61 is recurrently active after we found it displaying a pronounced tail in a UT 2018 April 16 Steward Observatory Bart Bok 2.3 m telescope image and UT 2018 May 14 observations by G. Borisov with the 0.3 m telescope at MARGO Observatory. Our dynamical integrations reveal that 2012 DG61, an Apollo dynamical class member, is likely in 2:1 mean-motion resonance with Jupiter. We encourage additional observations to help characterize the activity morphology of this near-Earth comet.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1950901
- PAR ID:
- 10610704
- Author(s) / Creator(s):
- ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; more »
- Publisher / Repository:
- IOP
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Research Notes of the AAS
- Volume:
- 9
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 2515-5172
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 3
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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