Asteroid 2005 SB223: no evidence of cometary activity
ATel #866; O. Mousis (Besançon Observatory, France), R. Behrend (Geneva Observatory, Switzerland), O. Lorin (Besançon Observatory, France)
on 25 Jul 2006; 17:50 UT
Credential Certification: Olivier Mousis (Olivier.Mousis@obs-besancon.fr)
Subjects: Optical, Asteroid, Comet
Olivier Mousis, Besançon Observatory, France, imaged the object 2005 SB223 which has a cometary like orbit (q=2.77 UA, e=0.91, i=91°). One hundred R-filtered 30s-images were obtained on 2006-06-01.8 UT when the object was at the heliocentric distance of 3.36 AU, using the 1.0m telescope at Sutherland (SAAO, South-Afrika). The data analysis was performed by Raoul Behrend, Geneva Observatory, Switzerland and Olivier Lorin, Besançon Observatory, France. The images were stacked twice: once on 2005 SB233's proper motion, once without motion - the same clipping algorithm was used when combining the frames. The surface brightness profiles of the target and the stars of equal magnitude were compared. The comparison shows no evidence of coma.