The Main Belt Comets and Ice in the Solar System
arXiv:1709.05549 · doi:10.1007/s00159-017-0104-7
Abstract
We review the evidence for buried ice in the asteroid belt; specifically the questions around the so-called Main Belt Comets (MBCs). We summarise the evidence for water throughout the Solar System, and describe the various methods for detecting it, including remote sensing from ultraviolet to radio wavelengths. We review progress in the first decade of study of MBCs, including observations, modelling of ice survival, and discussion on their origins. We then look at which methods will likely be most effective for further progress, including the key challenge of direct detection of (escaping) water in these bodies.
Invited review for Astron. Astrophys. Rev. 43 pages + references. Product of ISSI team http://www.issibern.ch/teams/mainbeltcomets/
References in corpus (39)
- Complex organic molecules in comets C/2012 F6 (Lemmon) and C/2013 R1 (Lovejoy): detection of ethylene glycol and formamide
- Water Ice and Dust in the Innermost Coma of Comet 103P/Hartley 2
- A collision in 2009 as the origin of the debris trail of asteroid P/2010 A2
- Landslides and Mass Shedding on Spinning Spheroidal Asteroids
- Main-Belt Comet P/2008 R1 (Garradd)
- Disintegrating Asteroid P/2013 R3
- Mapping the release of volatiles in the inner comae of comets C/2012 F6 (Lemmon) and C/2012 S1 (ISON) using the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array
- Albedos of Main-Belt Comets 133P/Elst-Pizarro and 176P/LINEAR
- Physical Properties of Main-Belt Comet P/2005 U1 (Read)
- Comet 17P/Holmes in Outburst: The Near Infrared Spectrum
- The Main-Belt Comets: The Pan-STARRS1 Perspective
- Deep Impact : High Resolution Optical Spectroscopy with the ESO VLT and the Keck 1 telescope
- Detection of Additional Members of the 2003 EL61 Family via Infrared Spectroscopy
- The Fourth Positive System of Carbon Monoxide in the Hubble Space Telescope Spectra of Comets
- Resurrection of (3200) Phaethon in 2016
- Detection of Water and/or Hydroxyl on Asteroid (16) Psyche
- P/2006 VW139: A Main-Belt Comet Born in an Asteroid Collision?
- Changes in the physical environment of the inner coma of 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko with decreasing heliocentric distance
- The 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko observation campaign in support of the Rosetta mission
- Episodic Ejection from Active Asteroid 311P/PANSTARRS
- Sublimation-Driven Activity in Main-Belt Comet 313P/Gibbs
- HIFI Observations of Water in the Atmosphere of Comet C/2008 Q3 (Garradd)
- An upper limit for the water outgassing rate of the main-belt comet 176P/LINEAR observed with Herschel/HIFI
- The splitting of double-component active asteroid P/2016 J1 (PANSTARRS)
- Non-Gravitational Acceleration of the Active Asteroids
- Water production in comet 81P/Wild 2 as determined by Herschel/HIFI
- How thick are Mercury's polar water ice deposits?
- Observations of Comet ISON (C/2012 S1) from Lowell Observatory
- The Nucleus of Main-Belt Comet P/2010 R2 (La Sagra)
- New Active Asteroid 313P/Gibbs
- Observational Constraints on Water Sublimation from 24 Themis and 1 Ceres
- Herschel observations of gas and dust in comet C/2006 W3 (Christensen) at 5 AU from the Sun
- Split Active Asteroid P/2016 J1 (PANSTARRS)
- X-shooter search for outgassing from Main Belt Comet P/2012 T1 (Pan-STARRS)
- On the dust environment of Main-Belt Comet 313P/Gibbs
- Thermal physics of the inner coma: ALMA studies of the methanol distribution and excitation in comet C/2012 K1 (PanSTARRS)
- Disk evolution and the fate of water
- The Far-Infrared Surveyor Mission Study: Paper I, the Genesis
- Main-belt comets as tracers of ice in the inner Solar system