Water in the Asteroid Belt: Main Belt Comet Discovery, Characterization, and Modeling

居住在主小行星带区域的彗星是最近发现的；截至2009年底，只有4颗已知。该项目旨在极大地增加已知的主带彗星(MBCs)的数量，表征它们的自转状态、颜色和反射特性，并对它们表面对加热和冷却的响应进行物理模拟。博士后研究人员将与PI一起完成软件的开发，该软件将识别来自泛星1号测量望远镜(PS1)的数据中的MBCs。在PS1运行的头3年，预计将发现数百个MBC。该团队将在PS1探测的基础上利用其他各种光学望远镜进行观测，以获得自转速度、极点方向、颜色和相位函数；并将开发包含轨道动力学、自转、太阳辐射、孔隙率、挥发扩散和相变的热模型。夏威夷之星(HISTARS)推广计划中的一些后续观察将由初中生和高中生进行。这项工作的科学成果将有助于了解小行星带冰的演化和太阳系中的水的运输，特别是地球上水的来源。

Comets that inhabit the region of the Main Asteroid Belt are a recent discovery; as of the end of 2009, only 4 were known. This project is an effort to greatly increase the number of known Main Belt Comets (MBCs), to characterize their rotation states, colors, and reflectance properties, and to physically model the response of their surfaces to heating and cooling. Postdoctoral researchers, along with the PI, will complete the development of software that will identify MBCs in data from the Pan STARRS 1 survey telescope (PS1). In the first 3 years of PS1 operations, hundreds of MBCs are expected to be discovered. The team will follow up the PS1 detections with observations on various other optical telescopes to obtain rotation rates, pole orientations, colors, and phase functions; and will develop thermal models that incorporate orbital dynamics, rotation, solar irradiation, porosity, volatile diffusion, and phase changes. Some of the follow-up observations will be performed by middle- and high-school students in the Hawaii-Stars (HISTARS) outreach program. The scientific products of this work will contribute to the understanding of the evolution of ices in the asteroid belt and the transport of water in the Solar System, and in particular the origin of water on Earth.