Hubble Space Telescope Observations of Active Asteroid 324P/La Sagra

Hubble Space Telescope observations of active asteroid 324P/La Sagra near perihelion show continued mass loss consistent with the sublimation of near-surface ice. Isophotes of the coma measured from a vantage point below the orbital plane are best matched by steady emission of particles having a nominal size $a \sim$ 100 $\mu$m. The inferred rate of mass loss, $dM_d/dt \sim$0.2 kg s$^{-1}$, can be supplied by sublimation of water ice in thermal equilibrium with sunlight from an area as small as 930 m$^2$, corresponding to about 0.2\% of the nucleus surface. Observations taken from a vantage point only 0.6\degr~from the orbital plane of 324P set a limit to the velocity of ejection of dust in the direction perpendicular to the plane, $V_{\perp} <$ 1 m s$^{-1}$. Short-term photometric variations of the near-nucleus region, if related to rotation of the underlying nucleus, rule out periods $\le$ 3.8 hr and suggest that rotation probably does not play a central role in driving the observed mass loss. We estimate that, in the previous orbit, 324P lost about 4$\times$10$^7$ kg in dust particles, corresponding to 6$\times$10$^{-5}$ of the mass of a 550 m spherical nucleus of assumed density $\rho$ = 1000 kg m$^{-3}$. If continued, mass loss at this rate would limit the lifetime of 324P to $\sim$1.6$\times$10$^4$ orbits (about 10$^5$ yr). To survive for the 100 Myr to 400 Myr timescales corresponding, respectively, to dynamical and collisional stability requires a duty cycle $2\times 10^{-4} \le f_d \le 8\times 10^{-4}$. Unless its time in orbit is over-estimated by many orders of magnitude, 324P is revealed as a briefly-active member of a vast population of otherwise dormant ice-containing asteroids.