New observations of the rock show its comet-like tail is not made of dust, possibly altering the origin story of the Geminid meteor shower.
After seeing the asteroid’s short tail shine in the orange filter, the researchers behind the new study dug through old SOHO data to try todetected the asteroid in images dating back to more than 20 years ago.
“Our unique observing plan found the mysterious asteroid Phaethon for the first time in SOHO data,” Qicheng Zhang, PhD student at the California Institute of Technologyby ESA. “By digging in the treasure chest of SOHO, we showed that Phaethon is visible in LASCO images from 18 different orbits back to 1997.”Phaethon’s sodium tail adds even more mystery to this strange object.
is the likely origin of the Geminid meteor shower, which streaks across the sky in December. Most meteor showers, however, are produced by comets as a trail of debris left behind during their solar flyby. In 2009, NASA Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory observed a short tail that trails behind Phaethon that appeared during the asteroid’s closest approach to the Sun during its 524-day orbit. Comets tend to form icy tails of dusty material as their surfaceThe discovery of sodium in Phaethon’s tail could also hold clues to the origin of its meteor shower.
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