Recent Close Approaches
Phaethon approached to 18.1 Gm of Earth on December 10, 2007. It will draw nearer in 2017, 2050, 2060, and closer still on December 14, 2093, passing within 0.0198 AU (3.0 Gm).
When Phaethon came to perihelion in July 2009, it was brighter than expected. As Phaethon approached perihelion in June 2009, the STEREO-A spacecraft detected an unexpected brightening, by a factor of two.
Read more about this topic: 3200 Phaethon
Famous quotes containing the words close and/or approaches:
“All our Concord waters have two colors at least; one when viewed at a distance, and another, more proper, close at hand.... Walden is blue at one time and green at another, even from the same point of view. Lying between the earth and the heavens, it partakes of the color of both.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“If I commit suicide, it will not be to destroy myself but to put myself back together again. Suicide will be for me only one means of violently reconquering myself, of brutally invading my being, of anticipating the unpredictable approaches of God. By suicide, I reintroduce my design in nature, I shall for the first time give things the shape of my will.”
—Antonin Artaud (1896–1948)