A Monitoring Observation of Comet 17P/Holmes during 2014 Apparition

We performed a monitoring campaign of a Jupiter-Family comet 17P/Holmes, which underwent the dramatic outburst on 23.3 October 2007 at $r_h=2.44AU$, to investigate the secular change in activity and subsequent physical properties of the inner dust coma before and after the 2014 perihelion passage. The monitoring observation was carried out over two years: from May to July 2013, from July to November 2014, and January 2015 with ~weekly cadence. We conducted photometry monitoring in Rc band using four ground-based telescopes, which are the Ishigakijima Astronomical Observatory 105cm telescope, the Okayama Astrophysical Observatory 50cm telescope, the Nishi-Harima Astronomical Observatory 2m telescope, and the T30 51cm i-telescope, respectively. In order to examine the dust production rate, we put a constraint upon the physical distance from the center of the nucleus as rho=2500km and conducted aperture photometry. We found that the average absolute Rc magnitude over the period between July to November 2014 was mR(1,1,0)~12.29, which was approximately 1.5 magnitudes fainter than those of 2013 data. Accordingly, comet 17P/Holmes seemed to become dormant, although a minor eruption was detected on January 26, 2015. In this presentation, we will introduce our ongoing project for 17P/Holmes and discuss why the nucleus becomes dormant within one orbital period.