A Jupiter-family Comet Discovery via Citizen Science: 2005 XR132

Abstract

Abstract We report the discovery of cometary activity associated with minor planet 2005 XR132, a finding facilitated by our NASA Partner program Active Asteroids, hosted on the Zooniverse online Citizen Science platform. Volunteers identified activity in a Dark Energy Camera image of 2005 XR132 from UT 2021 March 26, and our own investigation uncovered additional images of activity in Zwicky Transient Facility data spanning UT 2021 January 3 through March 31. 2005 XR132 has a semimajor axis a = 3.760 au, eccentricity e = 0.432, inclination i = 14.°474, and a Tisserand parameter with respect to Jupiter of T J = 2.869, and thus is dynamically classified as a Jupiter-family comet.