It was in 1983 when Simon Green and John Davies spotted Phaethon, the 5.4 kilometers-wide asteroid from the Infrared Astronomical Satellite. The asteroid came close to Earth in 2017, passing from a distance of just 10 million kilometers away from the planet.
Scientists have noticed a change in the near-Earth object’s spin cycle and the possibly dangerous asteroid’s peculiar behaviour. This asteroid is the largest ever found, while being the eleventh with a measured change in its rotation period. Astronomers have a precise understanding of the asteroid’s orbit, but they do not understand why its spin is altering.
The new findings were announced at the 54th annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society’s Division for Planetary Sciences. While it poses no threat to Earth, the asteroid has emerged as a target for the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) DESTINY+ mission that will launch in 2024.
Since Phaethon’s orientation at the time of the spacecraft’s flyby can be predicted with accuracy thanks to a constant change, Marshall continued, ‘this is wonderful news for the DESTINY+ team, since they will know which regions will be lighted by the Sun.’
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