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We present near-infrared spectroscopy of the sporadically active asteroid(6478) Gault collected on the 3 m NASA/Infrared Telescope Facility observatoryin late 2019 March/early April. Long-exposure imaging with the 0.5 m NEEMO T05telescope and previously published data simultaneously monitored the asteroidactivity, providing context for our measurements. We confirm Gault is asilicate-rich (Q- or S-type) object likely linked to the (25) Phocaeacollisional family. The asteroid exhibits substantial spectral variability overthe 0.75-2.45 $\mu$m wavelength range, from unusual blue (s'=-13.5+/-1.1%$\mu$m-1 to typical red (s'=+9.1+/-1.2% $\mu$m-1) spectral slope, that does notseem to correlate with activity. Spectral comparisons with samples of ordinarychondrite meteorites suggest that the blue color relates to the partial loss ofthe asteroid dust regolith, exposing a fresh, dust-free material at itssurface. The existence of asteroids rotating close to rotational break-up limitand having similar spectral properties as Gault further supports thisinterpretation. Future spectroscopic observations of Gault, when the tailsdissipate, will help further testing of our proposed hypothesis.

Active asteroid (6478) Gault: a blue Q-type surface below the dust?