In Search of Recent Disruption of (3200) Phaethon: Model Implication and Hubble Space Telescope Search

Abstract

Near-Earth asteroid (3200) Phaethon is notable for its association to a strong annual meteor shower, the Geminids, indicative of one or more episodes of mass ejection in the past. The mechanism of Phaethon's past activity is not yet understood. Here we present a Hubble Space Telescope (HST) search of meter-sized fragments in the vicinity of Phaethon, carried out during Phaethon's historic approach to the Earth in mid-December of 2017. Numerical simulation conducted to guide HST's pointing also show that the dynamical evolution of Phaethon-originated particles is quick, as ejected materials take no longer than $\sim 250$ yr to spread to the entire orbit of Phaethon. Our search was completed down to 4-meter-class limit (assuming Phaethon-like albedo) and was expected to detect 0.035% particles ejected by Phaethon in the last several decades. The negative result of our search capped the total mass loss of Phaethon over the past few dozen orbits to be $10^{12}$ kg at $3\sigma$ level, taking the best estimates of size power-law from meteor observations and spacecraft data. Our result also implies a millimeter-sized dust flux of $<10^{-12}{\mathrm{m}}^{-2}{\mathrm{s}}^{-1}$ within 0.1 au of Phaethon, suggesting that any Phaethon-bound mission is unlikely to encounter dense dust clouds.

arXiv commentApJL in press

References in corpus (15)

• The Active Asteroids
• Activity in Geminid Parent (3200) Phaethon
• The Dust Tail of Asteroid (3200) Phaethon
• The Ginger-shaped Asteroid 4179 Toutatis: New Observations from a Successful Flyby of Chang'e-2
• Recurrent Perihelion Activity in (3200) Phaethon
• Near-Earth asteroid (3200) Phaethon. Characterization of its orbit, spin state, and thermophysical parameters
• Explosion of Comet 17P/Holmes as revealed by the Spitzer Space Telescope
• Resurrection of (3200) Phaethon in 2016
• Refined Rotational Period, Pole Solution & Shape Model for (3200) Phaethon
• Dormant Comets Among the Near-Earth Object Population: A Meteor-Based Survey
• Outburst of Comet 17P/Holmes Observed With The Solar Mass Ejection Imager
• Fragmentation Kinematics in Comet 332P/Ikeya-Murakami
• Boulders on asteroid Toutatis as observed by Chang'e-2
• An Upper Limit on Gas Production from 3200 Phaethon
• 2006 Fragmentation of Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3B Observed with Subaru/Suprime-Cam

Cited by in corpus (14)

• Parker Solar Probe: Four Years of Discoveries at Solar Cycle Minimum
• (3200) Phaethon: Bulk density from Yarkovsky drift detection
• Modelling DESTINY+ interplanetary and interstellar dust measurements en route to the active asteroid (3200) Phaethon
• Parker Solar Probe Observations of a Dust Trail in the Orbit of (3200) Phaethon
• Asteroid (3200) Phaethon: colors, phase curve, limits on cometary activity and fragmentation
• Supercatastrophic disruption of asteroids in the context of SOHO comet, fireball and meteor observations
• High Resolution Thermal Infrared Imaging of 3200 Phaethon
• Thermal Alteration of Labile Elements in Carbonaceous Chondrites
• Hubble Space Telescope Observations of 3200 Phaethon At Closest Approach
• Continued PSP/WISPR Observations of a Phaethon-related Dust Trail
• Electrostatic Dust Ejection From Asteroid (3200) Phaethon With the Aid of Mobile Alkali Ions at Perihelion
• Perihelion Activity of (3200) Phaethon Is Not Dusty: Evidence from STEREO/COR2 Observations
• Characterizing the Daytime Sextantids Meteor Shower and Unveiling the Nature of the Phaethon-Geminid Stream Complex
• Waiting to make an impact: A probable excess of near-Earth asteroids in 2018 LA-like orbits