(A) Understanding the origin and evolution of the main -belt comets – asteroids orbiting between Mars and Jupiter that show comet – like activity -is crucial element in our understanding of the evolution of the whole Solar system.

(B) The various features of 288P -wide separation of the two components, new -equal component size, high eccentricity and comet -like activity – also make it unique among the few known wide asteroids binaries in the Solar system.

(C) Since only a few objects of this type are known, 288P presents itself as an extremely important system for future studies.

(D) Among the question main-belt comets can help to answer is how water came to Earth.