A new study on Phaethon could finally have broken the mystery of why this strange asteroid appears blue

The asteroid Phaethon reflects light in a very unusual way and astronomers believe that they know some of these reasons.

Astronomers closely monitor the near-Earth asteroid known as the Phaeton and believe that they finally cracked. the mystery of why this asteroid reflects light in a way so strange and has a blue hue

According to Phys.org astronomers from the Seoul National University, the l 39; National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ)), The Chiba Institute of Technology and other international universities have conducted research on the asteroid using the 1.6-meter Pirka telescope of the Observatory of Nayoro to analyze the polarization of light on Phaethon and have published a new study based on their observations.

Phaethon was originally discovered in 1983 and on December 16, 2017, it flew over the Earth at 6.4 million miles, which is closest to our planet until the year 2093 rolls. With the asteroid so close last year, astronomers were able to determine that there was a massive void in the center of Phaethon.

After observing how this asteroid reflects light after observing it from different angles, the new study suggests far less light. can be reflected from the surface of Phaethon as previously speculated.

There could be many reasons for this and may include the presence of an unknown material that is hiding on the asteroid, with the extremely porous material. The Phaethon surface can also be quite dark, which is another plausible reason for the lack of reflected light on its surface.

New mystery discovered concerning the active asteroid Phaethon @NatureComms https://t.co/2RV1XI1mNo

– Phys.org (@physorg_com) 29 June 2018 [19659009] As reported Daily Mail when there is light reflected from the surface of an asteroid and that it bounces another part of the light before the astronomers can see the light , light scattered on more than one surface would cause a highly polarized light, according to Dr. Ito, the chief astronomer of the latest research

"If albedo is lower than previously thought this would reduce the effectiveness of multiple scatterings so that highly polarized light that has only been reflected once would dominate. "

When Phaethon is at its closest to the sun, its surface is capable of reach temperatures of 1000 degrees Cels ius This could cause some of the surface of the asteroid to form rough grains.

The DESTINY + probe will be launched by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency in 2022 and will take pictures of the Phaethon during flight so that astronomers can glimpse the geology of this asteroid and airborne. 39 have a better idea of ​​what its surface actually looks like, which would give a clear picture of why it reflects light in the way it does.

The new research on the polarization of light on the asteroid Phaethon was published in Nature Communications .