Activity of (2060) Chiron possibly caused by impacts?

• Published in: arXiv.org
• Main Authors: Cikota, Stefan, Fernández-Valenzuela, Estela, Ortiz, Jose Luis, Morales, Nicolás, Duffard, René, Aceituno, Jesus, Cikota, Aleksandar, Santos-Sanz, Pablo
• Format: Paper Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ithaca Cornell University Library, arXiv.org 16.01.2018
• Subjects: Chiron; Collision rates; Debris; Image acquisition; Image detection; Light curve; Photometry; Physics - Earth and Planetary Astrophysics; Scattering; Surface brightness

The centaur 95P/(2060) Chiron is showing comet-like activity since its discovery, but the mass-loss mechanisms triggering its activity remained unexplained. Although the collision rates in the centaur region are expected to be very low, and impacts are thought not to be responsible for the mass-loss...