Meet Phaethon, a weird asteroid that thinks it's a comet—new research may explain what's going on. Story by Martin D. Suttle • 3mo. W hat's the difference between an asteroid and a comet?

Astronomers have discovered that a potentially hazardous near-Earth asteroid, 3200 Phaethon, has an unusual accelerating spin that could eventually change its trajectory through the solar system.

Namely, Phaethon's emission spectrum corresponds to a type of meteorite called the "CY carbonaceous chondrite." Conversely, other well known asteroids such as Ryugu and Bennu, targets of the ...

Phaethon’s sodium tail adds even more mystery to this strange object. The asteroid was discovered in 1983 and named after the son of the Greek Sun god Helios for its close proximity to the star.

Asteroid 3200 Phaethon, a space oddity, is even stranger than astronomers thought, NASA researchers said Tuesday. The asteroid acts like a comet and astronomers had thought its tail was made of ...

Asteroid Phaethon, which is five kilometers in diameter, has been puzzling researchers for a long time. A comet-like tail is visible for a few days when the asteroid passes closest to the Sun ...

This space oddity has long puzzled scientists for its peculiar non-asteroid-like behaviors. Researchers have now uncovered another curious characteristic of 3200 Phaethon, this time with its ...

Comets have tails, asteroids don’t, or so we thought. However, nature has a way of subverting binaries. We now know even Mercury – certainly no comet – has a tail, and so does 3200 Phaethon ...

Every year, the Geminid meteor shower peaks in mid-December and is regarded as one of the best and most consistent meteor showers, according to NASA.. The Geminids are active from Nov. 19 to Dec ...

As Phaethon rotates, which takes just under four hours, day turns to night and the subsurface cools. Some of the trapped gases are able to “back-react” to form a new generation of compounds.