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Citizen scientists find a rarity: an asteroid trying to be a comet

An object that orbits the Sun beyond the main asteroid belt and occasionally sports a tail is spotted in archival images.
Artwork of the asteroid 3200 Phaethon. Phaethon is an Apollo asteroid.

Some asteroids show comet-like features (artist’s impression), such as jets of dust or gas. Credit: Mark Garlick/SPL

With the help of citizen scientists, an astronomical object has been shown to blur the line between asteroid and comet1.

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Nature 623, 461 (2023)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-03399-3

References

  1. Oldroyd, W. J. et al. Astrophys. J. 957, L1 (2023).

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