Main-Belt Comet Evolution

Understanding the origin and evolution of main-belt comets - asteroids orbiting between Mars and Jupiter that show comet-like activity - is a crucial element in our understanding of the formation and evolution of the whole Solar System. | Since only a few objects of this type are known, 288P presents itself as an extremely important system for future studies. | Among the questions main-belt comets can help to answer is how water came to Earth. | The various features of 288P - wide separation of the two components, near-equal component size, high eccentricity and comet-like activity - also make it unique among the few known wide asteroid binaries in the Solar System.