Posted on 10/24/2018 10:41:54 AM PDT by BenLurkin
Blue asteroids are rare, and blue comets are almost unheard of. An international team led by Teddy Kareta, a graduate student at the University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, investigated (3200) Phaethon, a bizarre asteroid that sometimes behaves like a comet, and found it even more enigmatic than previously thought.
Phaethon sets itself apart for two reasons: it appears to be one of the "bluest" of similarly colored asteroids or comets in the solar system; and its orbit takes it so close to the Sun that its surface heats up to about 800 degrees Celsius (1,500 degrees Fahrenheit), hot enough to melt aluminum.
Astronomers have been intrigued by Phaethon for other reasons, too. It has the qualities of both an asteroid and a comet based on its appearance and behavior.
Phaethon always appears as a dot in the sky, like thousands of other asteroids, and not as a fuzzy blob with a tail, like a comet. But Phaethon is the source of the annual Geminid meteor shower, easily seen in early to mid-December.
Meteor showers occur when Earth passes through the trail of dust left behind on a comet's orbit. When they occur and where they appear to originate from depends on how the comet's orbit is oriented with respect to the Earth. Phaethon is thought to be the "parent body" of the Geminid meteor shower because its orbit is very similar to the orbit of the Geminid meteors.
(Excerpt) Read more at phys.org ...
There’s the Blue WAVE!.....................BYE-BYE!..............
Strange, Phaethon always seemed to be happy.
Ah that must be the blue wave we have been hearing about for like forever now. 8>)
LOL!
*ping*
Thanks fieldmarshaldj. Gotta use blue, althought that isn't the regular use of it:
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