Extremely strong polarization of an active asteroid (3200) Phaethon

Takashi Ito; Masateru Ishiguro; Tomoko Arai; Masataka Imai; Tomohiko Sekiguchi; Yoonsoo P. Bach; Yuna G. Kwon; Masanori Kobayashi; Ryo Ishimaru; Hiroyuki Naito; Makoto Watanabe; Kiyoshi Kuramoto

doi:10.1038/s41467-018-04727-2

Nature Communications (Jun 2018)

Extremely strong polarization of an active asteroid (3200) Phaethon

Takashi Ito,
Masateru Ishiguro,
Tomoko Arai,
Masataka Imai,
Tomohiko Sekiguchi,
Yoonsoo P. Bach,
Yuna G. Kwon,
Masanori Kobayashi,
Ryo Ishimaru,
Hiroyuki Naito,
Makoto Watanabe,
Kiyoshi Kuramoto

Affiliations

Takashi Ito: Center for Computational Astrophysics, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
Masateru Ishiguro: Department of Physics and Astronomy, Seoul National University
Tomoko Arai: Planetary Exploration Research Center, Chiba Institute of Technology
Masataka Imai: Department of Cosmosciences, Graduate School of Science, Hokkaido University
Tomohiko Sekiguchi: Asahikawa Campus, Hokkaido University of Education
Yoonsoo P. Bach: Department of Physics and Astronomy, Seoul National University
Yuna G. Kwon: Department of Physics and Astronomy, Seoul National University
Masanori Kobayashi: Planetary Exploration Research Center, Chiba Institute of Technology
Ryo Ishimaru: Planetary Exploration Research Center, Chiba Institute of Technology
Hiroyuki Naito: Nayoro Observatory
Makoto Watanabe: Department of Applied Physics, Okayama University of Science
Kiyoshi Kuramoto: Department of Cosmosciences, Graduate School of Science, Hokkaido University

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-04727-2
Journal volume & issue: Vol. 9, no. 1
pp. 1 – 8

Abstract

Read online

(3200) Phaethon is a near-Earth asteroid discovered in 1983 that has large inclination and eccentricity. Here, the authors perform polarimetric observation of Phaethon over a wide range of solar phase angle and report that the asteroid exhibits a very strong linear polarization.

Published in Nature Communications

ISSN: 2041-1723 (Online)
Publisher: Nature Portfolio
Country of publisher: United Kingdom
LCC subjects: Science
Website: https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

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