It is speculated that some weakly active comets may be transitional objects between active and dormant comets .
These objects are at a unique stage of the evolution of cometary nuclei , as they are still identifiable as active comets , in contrast to inactive comets that are observationally indistinguishable from low albedo asteroids .
In this paper , we present a synthesis of comet and meteor observations of Jupiter-family comet 209P/LINEAR , one of the most weakly active comets recorded to-date .
Images taken by the Xingming 0.35-m telescope and the Gemini Flamingo-2 camera are modeled by a Monte Carlo dust model , which yields a low dust ejection speed ( 1 / 10 of that of moderately active comets ) , dominance of large dust grains , and a low dust production of 0.4 ~ { } \mathrm { kg \cdot s ^ { -1 } } at 19 d after the 2014 perihelion passage .
We also find a reddish nucleus of 209P/LINEAR that is similar to D-type asteroids and most Trojan asteroids .
Meteor observations with the Canadian Meteor Orbit Radar ( CMOR ) , coupled with meteoroid stream modeling , suggest a low dust production of the parent over the past few hundred orbits , although there are hints of a some temporary increase in activity in the 18th century .
Dynamical simulations indicate 209P/LINEAR may have resided in a stable near-Earth orbit for \sim 10 ^ { 4 } yr , which is significantly longer than typical JFCs .
All these lines of evidence imply that 209P/LINEAR as an aging comet quietly exhausting its remaining near surface volatiles .
We also compare 209P/LINEAR to other low activity comets , where evidence for a diversity of the origin of low activity is seen .