Main Belt Comets: A new class of icy asteroids
Nader Haghighipour (Univ. of Hawaii)
Main-belt comets (MBCs) are icy asteroid that reside in the asteroid belt but unlike regular asteroids, they show tails similar to those of comets. Much of interest in these objects is due to the implication that the comet-like activity of these bodies is driven by the sublimation of water-ice presenting MBCs
as probable candidates for the delivery of a significant fraction of Earth’s water. I will present a review of the discovery of MBCs and present the model of their origin and formation. I will show that an analysis of the dynamics of these objects points to the in-situ formation of these bodies as the remnants of the break-up of large icy asteroids. I will also present the results of our most recent simulations of the activation of MBCs. I will show how impacts of m-sized objects with km-sized asteroids may excavate subsurface ice and trigger their comet-like tails and activity. Finally, I will discuss the implication of our results for the models of terrestrial planet formation and the origin of Earth's water.