16795

We request 3 orbits of DD time to identify the cause of dust emission in newly discovered active asteroid P-2021 L4. The orbit of L4 is in the outer main belt comma and similar to those of two other asteroids with confirmed activity likely driven by the sublimation of ice. However comma the activity in L4 can be dated to an epoch more than 1.5 years after perihelion comma which make sublimation-driven activity questionable comma with possible alternatives being an impact or rotational mass shedding. We here seek to find out about the cause of activity from studying the distribution and dynamical evolution of dust and debris near the nucleus and in the dust tail comma and to characterise the nucleus itself. This will help us to constrain the depth of buried ice in this outer-main-belt object comma and lay the basis for follow-up observations during the next perihelion passage in 2025. We request DD time because L4 was discovered after the last regular GO proposal deadline comma and because we expect the debris to disperse on timescales of weeks to a few months.