Apollo asteroid notable for its very small perihelion and for being the progenitor of the Geminid meteor shower From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
3200 Phaethon, sometimes incorrectly spelt Phaeton, is an Apollo asteroid and a dead comet.[1]
Discovery | |
---|---|
Discovery date | 11 October 1983 |
Designations | |
Named after | Phaëton |
1983 TB | |
Apollo asteroid | |
Orbital characteristics | |
Epoch July 14, 2004 (JD 2453200.5) | |
Aphelion | 2.403 AU (359.456 Gm) |
Perihelion | 0.140 AU (20.922 Gm) |
1.271 AU (190.189 Gm) | |
Eccentricity | 0.890 |
1.43 a (523.586 d) | |
Average orbital speed | 19.98 km/s |
200.798° | |
Inclination | 22.169° |
Physical characteristics | |
Dimensions | 5.1 km[1] |
Mass | 1.4×1014 kg |
It was announced on 14 October 1983 in IAUC 3878, with optical confirmation that it looks like an asteroid. It was the first asteroid to be found by a spacecraft. It measures 5.10 km in diameter.
Phaethon approaches the Sun closer than any other numbered asteroid. Its perihelion (closest approach to the Sun) is only 0.140 AU – less than half Mercury's perihelion distance. It is a Mercury-, Venus-, Earth- and Mars-crosser. The surface temperature at perihelion could reach ~1025 K, or 1400 F. For this reason, it was named after the Greek myth of Phaëton, son of the sun god Helios.
Phaethon approached to 18.1 Gm on 10 December 2007. It will draw nearer in 2017, 2050, 2060, and closer still on 14 December 2093, passing within 0.0198 AU (3.0 Gm).
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.