The LCO Outbursting Objects Key Project: Overview and Year 1 Status

Kavli Affiliate: Geza Gyuk

| First 5 Authors: Tim Lister, Michael S. P. Kelley, Carrie E. Holt, Henry H. Hsieh, Michele T. Bannister

| Summary:

The LCO Outbursting Objects Key (LOOK) Project uses the telescopes of the Las
Cumbres Observatory (LCO) Network to: (1) to systematically monitor a sample of
Dynamically New Comets over the whole sky, and (2) use alerts from existing sky
surveys to rapidly respond to and characterize detected outburst activity in
all small bodies. The data gathered on outbursts helps to characterize each
outburst’s evolution with time, assess the frequency and magnitude distribution
of outbursts in general, and contributes to the understanding of outburst
processes and volatile distribution in the Solar System. The LOOK Project
exploits the synergy between current and future wide-field surveys such as ZTF,
PanSTARRS, and LSST as well as rapid-response telescope networks such as LCO,
and serves as an excellent testbed for what will be needed the much larger
number of objects coming from Rubin Observatory. We will describe the LOOK
Project goals, the planning and target selection (including the use of
NEOexchange as a Target and Observation Manager or "TOM"), and results from the
first phase of observations, including the detection of activity and outbursts
on the giant comet C/2014 UN271 (Bernardinelli-Bernstein) and the discovery and
follow-up of outbursts on comets. Within these outburst discoveries, we present
a high cadence of 7P/Pons-Winnecke with days, a large outburst on
57P/duToit-Neujmin-Delporte, and evidence that comet P/2020 X1 (ATLAS) was in
outburst when discovered.

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