Determine whether dust emission was uninterrupted across the 2026 observing gap

Determine whether P/2026 N2’s dust emission continued uninterrupted during the approximately 85-day interval between the final LSST observation and the Keck observation.

Background

LSST detected activity before perihelion and Keck detected activity after perihelion, covering a total baseline of 102 days. The corrected aperture brightness and effective dust measures are broadly consistent between the two facilities.

Nevertheless, the observations do not cover the interval between the final LSST epoch and the Keck epoch. Consequently, they establish activity on both sides of the gap but cannot determine whether emission persisted continuously or instead ceased and later resumed.