A short-duration event as the cause of dust ejection from Main-Belt Comet P/2012 F5 (Gibbs)

Abstract

We present observations and an interpretative model of the dust environment of Main-Belt Comet P/2010 F5 (Gibbs). The narrow dust trails observed can be interpreted unequivocally as an impulsive event that took place around 2011 July 1st with an uncertainty of $\pm$10 days, and a duration of less than a day, possibly of the order of a few hours. The best Monte Carlo dust model fits to the observed trail brightness imply ejection velocities in the range 8-10 cm s$^{-1}$ for particle sizes between 30 cm and 130 $\mu$m. This weak dependence of velocity on size contrasts with that expected from ice sublimation, and agrees with that found recently for (596) Scheila, a likely impacted asteroid. The particles seen in the trail are found to follow a power-law size distribution of index $\approx$-3.7. Assuming that the slowest particles were ejected at the escape velocity of the nucleus, its size is constrained to about 200-300 m in diameter. The total ejected dust mass is $\gtrsim 5\times 10^8$ kg, with represents approximately 4 to 20% of the nucleus mass.