The 2026 reactivation of main-belt comet 259P/Garradd (2008 R1)

Hsieh, Henry H., McLeod, Madeleine K., Cannon, Richard E., Fitzsimmons, Alan, Lister, Tim, Kelley, Michael S. P., Holt, Carrie E., Usher, Helen, Chandler, Colin O., Sheppard, Scott S., Thirouin, Audrey, Anand, Aanya, Brown, Sam, Dallmann, Sofia, Jaffary, Navid, Jones, Emily, Sawant, Arjun, Gomez, Edward, Chatelain, Joseph P. and Greenstreet, Sarah 2026. The 2026 reactivation of main-belt comet 259P/Garradd (2008 R1). Research Notes of the American Astronomical Society 10 (8) , 224. 10.3847/2515-5172/ae930b

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Abstract

We report observations of main-belt comet (MBC) 259P/Garradd (2008 R1) using Faulkes Telescope South, Las Cumbres Observatory 1 m telescopes in South Africa and Australia, and the European Southern Observatory’s New Technology Telescope from UT 2026 July 10 to UT 2026 July 17 showing visible comet-like activity, marking its third confirmed active apparition. In all observations reported here, the object displays a relatively narrow fan-shaped tail approximately 30″ long aligned with the antisolar direction. These observations mark 259P’s third confirmed active apparition, solidifying its identification as a MBC. We measure an average apparent ${r}^{{\prime} }$-band magnitude of mr ∼ 19.5 mag over the reported observing period.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Schools > Physical, Chemical & Environmental Sciences Schools > Physics and Astronomy
Publisher:	IOP Publishing
ISSN:	2515-5172
Date of Acceptance:	31 July 2026
Last Modified:	14 Aug 2026 11:00
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/188996

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