Description
Before it was discovered {{mp|238P}} came to perihelion on 2005 July 27.[ When it was discovered on 2005 October 24, it showed vigorous cometary activity until 2005 December 27.[5] Outgassing likely began at least 2 months before discovery.[5] The activity of {{mp|238P}} is much stronger than 133P/Elst-Pizarro and 176P/LINEAR.[5] This may indicate that the impact assumed to have triggered {{mp|238P}}'s activity occurred very recently.[5]]
Observations of {{mp|238P}} when it was inactive in 2007 suggests that it has a small nucleus only about 0.6 km in diameter.[5]
It came to perihelion on 2011 March 10[5] and 2016 October 22.[20][21] It will next come to perihelion on 2022 June 5.[21]
{{mp|238P/Read}} was the target of a mission proposal in NASA's Discovery Program in the 2010s called Proteus, however it was not selected for further development.[23] Discovery program's founding mission was to an asteroid, but it went to a Near-Earth asteroid.[24] A mission to a main-belt asteroid was proposed in the 1990s (also see Deep Impact (spacecraft)).[25] References
1. ^1 2 {{cite web |title=238P/Read Orbit |url=http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/db_search/show_object?object_id=238P |publisher=Minor Planet Center |accessdate=2014-06-20}}
2. ^1 2 {{cite web |date=May 2010 |title=Main Belt Comets |publisher=Hawaii |author=Henry H. Hsieh |url=http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/~hsieh/mbcs.shtml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110806021852/http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/~hsieh/mbcs.shtml |dead-url=yes |archive-date=2011-08-06 |accessdate=2010-12-15 }} (older 2010 site) {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090810052739/http://star.pst.qub.ac.uk/~hhh/mbcs.shtml |date=August 10, 2009 }}
3. ^1 2 {{cite web |title=Main Belt Comets |publisher=UCLA, Department of Earth and Space Sciences |author=David Jewitt |author-link=David C. Jewitt |url=http://www2.ess.ucla.edu/~jewitt/mbc.html |accessdate=2010-12-15}}
4. ^1 {{cite web |date=2010-08-20 |title=P/Read (2005 U1 = 2010 N2) |publisher=OAA Computing and Minor Planet Sections |author=Syuichi Nakano |author-link=Syuichi Nakano |url=http://www.oaa.gr.jp/~oaacs/nk/nk1964.htm |accessdate=2011-07-25}}
5. ^1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 {{cite journal |last=Hsieh |first=Henry H. |author2=Jewitt |author2-link=David C. Jewitt |author3=David C. |author4=Ishiguro, Masateru |title=Physical Properties of Main-Belt Comet P/2005 U1 (Read) |journal=The Astronomical Journal |volume=137 |issue=1 |pages=157–168 |date=2009 |url=http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009AJ....137..157H&link_type=ARTICLE&db_key=AST&high= |doi=10.1088/0004-6256/137/1/157 |accessdate=2010-12-18 |arxiv=0810.1351 |bibcode=2009AJ....137..157H}}
6. ^1 {{cite web |url=http://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/abscicon2015/pdf/7433.pdf |format=PDF |title=PROTEUS – A MISSION TO INVESTIGATE THE ORIGIN OF EARTH’S WATER: CREATING HABITABLE WORLDS |publisher=Astrobiology Science Conference 2015 |accessdate=January 11, 2016}}
7. ^1
8. ^1 Discover 95 : MISSIONS TO THE MOON, SUN, VENUS AND A COMET PICKED FOR DISCOVERY - NASA