The dust emission from active asteroids is likely driven by collisions, fast
rotation, sublimation of embedded ice, and combinations of these.
Characterising these processes leads to a better understanding of their
respective influence on the evolution of the asteroid population. We study the
role of fast rotation in the active asteroid 358P (P 2012/T1). We obtained two
nights of deep imaging of 358P with SOAR/Goodman and VLT/FORS2. We derived the
rotational light curve from time-resolved photometry and searched for large
fragments and debris > 8 mm in a stacked, ultra-deep image. The nucleus has an
absolute magnitude of m_R=19.68, corresponding to a diameter of 530 m for
standard assumptions on the albedo and phase function of a C-type asteroid. We
do not detect fragments or debris that would require fast rotation to reduce
surface gravity to facilitate their escape. The 10-hour light curve does not
show an unambiguous periodicity.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures, 1 table, accepted for publication in A&
