3200 Phaethon
Videos
3200 Phaethon, provisionally designated 1983 TB, is an active Apollo asteroid with an orbit that brings it closer to the Sun than any other named asteroid. For this reason, it was named after the Gree
Phaethon's dust ejection is likely caused by a mechanism similar to how mud in a dry lake bottom cracks from heat
Phaethon imaged on December 25, 2010, with the 37-cm f/14 Rigel telescope at Winer Observatory by Marco Langbroek
Active asteroid
Videos
Active asteroids are small Solar System bodies that have asteroid-like orbits but show comet-like visual characteristics. That is, they show a coma, tail, or other visual evidence of mass-loss, but th
Asteroid 596 Scheila displaying a comet-like appearance on 12 December 2010
Dust ejecta and tail from the aftermath of the Double Asteroid Redirection Test's impact on the asteroid moon Dimorphos, as seen by the Southern Astrophysical Research Telescope in 2022
Disintegration of asteroid P/2013 R3 observed by the Hubble Space Telescope (6 March 2014).
Asteroid 101955 Bennu seen ejecting particles on January 6, 2019, in images taken by the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft