Program: GN-2009B-DD-9

On 2010 January 6 the LINEAR survey telescope detected a new comet that appears to be the most remarkable of a new dynamical class known as the main-belt comets (MBCs). The object, P/2010 A2, orbits amongst the inner-belt asteroids (semimajor axis 2.2 AU). The two possibilities for the source of cometary activity in this hybrid asteroid-comet object are equally intriguing, either (1) it is submlimating ice retained since the planet forming era in the inner asteroid belt or (2) it is a cloud of debris formed from two previously unknown asteroids colliding. We are requesting DD time to obtain GMOS-N spectra to determine which of these interesting possibilities is responsible for the activity of P/2010 A2.