Asteroid (3200) Phaethon: results of polarimetric, photometric, and spectral observations

Abstract

We present results of polarimetric, photometric, and spectral observations of the near-Earth asteroid (3200) Phaethon carried out at the 6-m BTA telescope of the Special Astrophysical Observatory and the 2.6-m and 1.25-m telescopes of the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory over a wide range of phase angles during its close approach to the Earth at the end of 2017 (19-135 deg) and in 2020 at α= 52.2 deg. Using our and other available in literature data, we found that the maximum degree of linear polarization of Phaethon in the V band is 45% at the phase angle 124 deg. Using the dependence (polarimetric slope-albedo) we have found the geometric albedo of asteroid Phaethon to be 0.06. This value falls into the lower range of albedo values for asteroids determined by different methods. The mean color indices U-B=0.207 and B-V=0.639 of the asteroid are derived at heliocentric and geocentric distances 1.077 au and 0.102 au, respectively. The effective diameter of Phaethon is estimated from obtained absolute magnitude and geometrical albedo, it is equal to 6.8 km. The best fit to the observed polarimetric data was obtained with the Sh-matrix model of conjugated random Gaussian particles composed of Mg-rich silicate (90%) and amorphous carbon (10%).

27 pages, 9 figures

References in corpus (9)

• Arecibo Radar Observations of Near-Earth Asteroid (3200) Phaethon During the 2017 Apparition
• Observations of 1999 YC and the Breakup of the Geminid Stream Parent
• Polarimetric survey of asteroids with the Asiago telescope
• Refined Rotational Period, Pole Solution & Shape Model for (3200) Phaethon
• Near-infrared observations of active asteroid (3200) Phaethon reveal no evidence for hydration
• Asteroid (3200) Phaethon: colors, phase curve, limits on cometary activity and fragmentation
• Comet 2P/Encke in apparitions of 2013 and 2017: I. Imaging photometry and long-slit spectroscopy
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Cited by in corpus (3)

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• (3200) Phaethon Polarimetry in the Negative Branch: New Evidence for the Anhydrous Nature of the DESTINY+ Target Asteroid
• The possible origin of three Apollo asteroids 3200 Phaethon, 2005UD, and 1999YC