High Resolution Thermal Infrared Imaging of 3200 Phaethon

Abstract

We present thermal infrared observations of the active asteroid (and Geminid meteoroid stream parent) 3200 Phaethon using the Very Large Telescope. The images, at 10.7 micron wavelength, were taken with Phaethon at its closest approach to Earth (separation 0.07 AU) in 2017 December, at a linear resolution of about 14 km. We probe the Hill sphere (of radius 66 km) for trapped dust and macroscopic bodies, finding neither, and we set limits to the presence of unbound dust. The derived limits to the optical depth of dust near Phaethon depend somewhat on the assumed geometry, but are of order 1e-5. The upper limit to the rate of loss of mass in dust is 14 kg/s. This is about 50 times smaller than the rate needed to sustain the Geminid meteoroid stream in steady state. The observations thus show that the production of the Geminids does not proceed in steady state.

arXiv comment33 pages, 7 figures

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• Parker Solar Probe Observations of a Dust Trail in the Orbit of (3200) Phaethon
• Sodium Brightening of (3200) Phaethon Near Perihelion
• Supercatastrophic disruption of asteroids in the context of SOHO comet, fireball and meteor observations
• Time-series and Phasecurve Photometry of Episodically-Active Asteroid (6478) Gault in a Quiescent State Using APO, GROWTH, P200 and ZTF
• Continued PSP/WISPR Observations of a Phaethon-related Dust Trail
• Evidence of surface heterogeneity on active asteroid (3200) Phaethon
• Thermal Alteration and Differential Sublimation Can Create Phaethons "Rock Comet" Activity and Blue Color
• Perihelion Activity of (3200) Phaethon Is Not Dusty: Evidence from STEREO/COR2 Observations
• Thermal radiation pressure as a possible mechanism for losing small particles on asteroids
• WISE/NEOWISE Multi-Epoch Imaging of the Potentially Geminid-related Asteroids: (3200) Phaethon, 2005 UD and 1999 YC
• Instantaneous thermally-driven erosion can explain dearth of dark near-Sun asteroids
• Multi-wavelength JWST observations of (3200) Phaethon show a dehydrated object with an aqueously altered origin
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