3200 Phaethon
Apollo asteroid notable for its very small perihelion and for being the progenitor of the Geminid meteor shower
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Summary
3200 Phaethon is a potentially hazardous asteroid[1]. It ranks in the top 4% of potentially hazardous asteroid entities by monthly Wikipedia readership (721 views/month).[2]
Key Facts
- Discoverer or inventor: IRAS[3]
- Instance of: near-Earth object[4], near-Earth asteroid[5]
- Site of astronomical discovery: IRAS[6]
- Named after: Phaethon[7]
- Follows: 3199 Nefertiti[8]
- Followed by: 3201 Sijthoff[9]
- Minor planet group: Apollo asteroid[10], asteroid belt[11]
- Commons category: 3200 Phaethon[12]
- Parent astronomical body: Sun[13]
- Child astronomical body: Geminids[14]
- Provisional designation: 1983 TB[15]
- Time of discovery or invention: October 11, 1983[16]
- Asteroid spectral type: B-type asteroid[17], F-type asteroid[18]
- Significant event: naming[19]
- Orbital eccentricity: 0.890[20], 0.8898977[21], 0.8897184635457245[22]
- Absolute magnitude: 14.6[23], 14.39[24]
- Orbital inclination: 22.169 degree[25], 22.26030 degree[26], 22.31263747259711 degree[27]
- Orbital period: 1.43 years[28], 523.6236739942816 day[29]
- Rotation period: 3.604 hour[30]
- Longitude of ascending node: 265.21619 degree[31], 265.0955719893683 degree[32]
- Semi-major axis of an orbit: 1.2713728 astronomical unit[33], 1.271395191220912 astronomical unit[34]
- Apoapsis: 2.403 astronomical unit[35], 2.402578967313405 astronomical unit[36]
- Periapsis: 0.1399810 astronomical unit[37], 0.1402114151284196 astronomical unit[38]
- Argument of periapsis: 322.18553 degree[39], 322.3065124633594 degree[40]
- Mean anomaly: 313.93903 degree[41], 163.9750967783587 degree[42]
Why It Matters
3200 Phaethon has Wikipedia articles in 23 language editions, a strong signal of global cultural recognition.[43] It is known by 33 alternative names across languages and contexts.[44]