A Recent Dust Ejection from an Inner Mainbelt Asteroid

Active asteroids are celestial bodies that distinctively have asteroid-like orbital elements but show comet-like activity. They exhibit the activities due to the sublimation of volatile ices, impacts with small objects or break-up by rapid rotations. As of 2019 February, 30 active asteroids are detected in the outer main belt (i.e., the semimajor axes a>2.5 au) while only 3 of them in the inner main belt (a<2.5 au), suggesting that sublimation of remaining icy volatiles can be one of the most fundamental mechanisms for the activities. A sudden activity of (6478) Gault was reported in early 2019. The asteroid was discovered in 1988 and has exhibited its inactive appearance until the end of last year. Soon after the report, we have conducted imaging observations using the Seoul National University Observatory 1.0-m telescope and the Korea Microlensing Telescope Network (KMTNet) to monitor the activity. The observed images showed a primary dust tail that consists of dust grains ejected early November in 2018. Later, another tail developed, indicating further dust ejection occurred around late December 2018. Our model simulation to reproduce the morphology of the dust cloud suggests that the slightly-curved primary dust tail results from a continuous dust ejection over weeks. The total mass of ejecta was estimated to XX kg (XX% of the asteroid mass). Such continuous dust ejection for the inner active asteroids was unexpected because ice might have already sublimated from subsurfaces of inner main belt. Based on our observational evidence, we will discuss how inner asteroids are activated and eject dust continuously.