3200 Phaethon
Art Neuendorffer
"She makes the winter's storms repose in peace"
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http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap080103.html
Geminids in 2007
<<Dust from curious near-Earth asteroid 3200 PHAETHON seems to fall
from the constellation Gemini in this fisheye skyview. The composite
image was recorded over four December nights (12-15) just last year
from Ludanyhalaszi, Hungary. Of course, the streaks are meteor trails
from the annual Geminids meteor shower. The Geminids is one of the
northern skies most reliably performing meteor showers and did not
disappoint last year. Under good conditions some skywatchers reported
well over 100 meteors per hour near the December 14/15 peak for the
Geminids in 2007.>>
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PHAETON SONNET
http://www.oxford-shakespeare.com/PHAETON_sonnet.html
.
<<The PHAETON sonnet is the only dedicatory sonnet in John Florio's
Second Fruits (1591). Minto suggested in 1874 that 'PHAETON' is
Shakespeare. The attribution cannot be lightly dismissed, given the
sonnet's Shakespearean form, imagery, language and metrics.
.
. PHAETON to his friend Florio
.
SWEET friend, whose name agrees with thy increase,
How fit a rival art thou of the SPRING,
For when each branch hath left his flourishing,
And GREEN-locked Summer's shady pleasures cease,
She makes the winter's storms repose in peace,
And spends her franchise on each living thing,
The daisies sprout, the little birds do sing,
Herbs, gums and plants do vaunt of their release;
So when that all our English wits lay dead
(Except the laurel, that is *EVER GREEN* ),
Thou with thy Fruits our barrenness o'erspread,
And set thy flowery pleasance to be seen;
Such fruits, such flowerets of morality,
Were nE'ER before brought out of Italy.
.............................................................
____ *VERDE* : GREEN (Italian, Spanish)
____ *primaVERA* : SPRING (Italian, Spanish)
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<<3200 PHAETHON is an Apollo and Mercury-, Venus-, Earth- and Mars-
crosser asteroid with unusual properties, and may be an extinct comet.
Simon F. GREEN and John K. Davies, while searching Infrared
Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) data for moving objects, discovered 3200
PHAETHON (1983 TB) in images from October 11, 1983. It was announced
on October 14 in IAUC 3878 along with optical confirmation by Charles
T. Kowal, who reported it to be asteroidal in appearance. It was the
first asteroid to be discovered by a spacecraft. It measures 5.10 km
in diameter. PHAETHON's most remarkable distinction is that it
approaches the Sun closer than any other numbered asteroid; its
perihelion is only 0.140 AU -- less than half Mercury's perihelion
distance. The surface temperature at perihelion could reach ~1025 K,
or 1400 F. For this reason, it was named after the Greek myth of
Phaëton, son of the sun god Helios.
.
PHAETHON's attributes can be argued as being cometary, except that
PHAETHON has never been caught exhibiting a coma, gas jets, or dust
trail. However IAUC 3881 soon after discovery of 3200 PHAETHON
reported Fred Whipple's observation that "orbital elements of 1983 TB
shown on IAUC 3879 are virtually coincident with the mean orbital
elements of 19 Geminid meteors photographed with the super-Schmidt
meteor cameras". PHAETHON thus turned out to be the long-sought parent
body of the Geminids meteor shower of mid-December. It is classified
as an Apollo asteroid because of its orbital qualities, also much in
common with comets and is also classified as a B-type asteroid because
it is composed of dark material; this too fits well with the cometary
origin hypothesis. There are several asteroid/comet mixed type objects
now known for sure. See 133P/Elst-Pizarro for example.
.
PHAETHON will approach to 18.1 Gm on December 10, 2007. It draws
nearer in 2017, 2050, 2060, and closer still on December 14, 2093,
passing within 0.0198 AU (3.0 Gm).>>
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http://web.uvic.ca/shakespeare/Library/SLT/stage/henslowe.html
.
<<HENSLOWE's Diary, kept from 1592 to 1603, contains
valuable information about the Elizabethan stage. The diary
includes lists of performances and takings, records of transactions
with players & playwrights and information about costumes & props:
...................................................
[PHAETHON, a play now lost, was written by Thomas Dekker, and paid
for by HENSLOWE in 1597.] The inventory of all the properties
for my Lord Admiral's Men, the 10 of March 1598:
.
Item, i rock, i cage, i tomb, i Hell mouth... i bedstead.
Item, viii lances, i pair of stairs for PHAETHON*.
Item, i globe, & i golden sceptre; iii clubs
Item, i golden fleece, ii racquets, i bay tree.
Item, i lion's skin, i bear's skin; PHAETHON's
limbs, & PHAETHON's chariot, & Argus's head.
.
Item, Iris's head, & rainbow; i little altar. . .
. i ghost's gown; i crown with a sun*.>>
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http://www.stromsborg.com/swanmyths/greeks.htm
.
<<Cygnus was son of Sthenele and a close friend of PHAETHON. PHAETHON
was son of Helios the Sun, and died in the river Eridanus after
attempting to drive his father's chariot. Cygnus was overcome with
grief that Zeus could have struck down his friend: "As he mourned, his
voice became thin and shrill, and white feathers hid his hair. His
neck grew long, stretching out from his breast, his fingers reddened
and a membrane joined them together. Wings clothed his sides, and a
blunt beak fastened on his mouth. Cygnus became a new kind of bird:
but he put no trust in the skies, nor in Zeus, for he remembered how
that god had unjustly hurled his flaming bolt. Instead, Cygnus made
for marshes and broad lakes, and in his hatred of flames chose to
inhabit the rivers, which are the very antithesis of fire.">>
(Ovid, Metamorphoses II 374-382).
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PHAETON: (sings) Yes, you're once. Twice. Three times...
.
Suddenly, the chariot clearly reaches the pool of thinner and
the sparks . ignite it. Flames shoot up around the chariot,
and are reflected in the windows. PHAETON begins
screaming and yelling in the midst of the inferno.
.
PHAETON: Aaah! Aaagh! Aah-aah. Oh, oh the humanity! Aaagh!
.
Cygnus sees PHAETON staggering along the road. PHAETON is walking
stiffly, and is singed all over, with blackened patches on his hair
and clothing. He's staring ahead, clearly in such a state
of shock that he's uncomprehending of his surroundings.
Cygnus: Hey buddy. What're you doing out here?
PHAETON continues to walk, oblivious of Cygnus.
Cygnus: Man, did you see that fireball? Woo-hoo-hoo, hoo-hoo.
PHAETON still doesn't respond.
In the distance the sound of sirens can be heard.
Cygnus hears them, looks worried, and moves toward the car.
.
Cygnus: Hey, I gotta skedaddle. You wanna lift?
.
Cygnus has the driver's door open and is impatient to be off.
. The sirens continue.
.
Cygnus: PHAETON! PHAETON!!
.
Cygnus gets in the car and leans out of the window to call to PHAETON.
.
Cygnus: Well, I'll meet you at the coffee shop.
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Follow the shower from http://comets.amsmeteors.org/meteors/showers/geminids.html
.
<<Most well known meteor showers, like the Perseids and Leonids, are
old. They've been observed for hundreds or even thousands of years.
The earliest record of a modern-day meteor shower is probably a
notation in Chinese annals dated 36 AD, regarding the Perseids, where
it is said that "more than 100 meteors flew thither in the morning."
The Geminids are a different story. The first Geminid meteors suddenly
appeared in the mid-1800's. Those early showers were unimpressive,
boasting a mere 10-20 shooting stars per hour. Since then, however,
the Geminids have grown in intensity until today it is one of the most
spectacular annual showers. In 1996, the last time the Geminids
appeared in a dark moon-less sky, observers saw as many as 110 per
hour. Sky-watchers with clear skies should see at least that many this
year if the Geminids continue to intensify.
.
After the discovery of the Geminids in 1862 astronomers began
searching for the parent comet. Most meteor showers result from debris
that that boils off a comet's nucleus when it passes close to the sun.
This debris orbits the sun along with the comet, forming a thin,
elongated stream of meteoroids that become shooting stars when they
hit Earth's atmosphere. Years of searching proved to no avail until
finally, in 1983, NASA's Infrared Astronomical Satellite discovered a
curious object moving in the same orbit as the Geminid meteoroid
stream. The orbital match was so good that it had to be the source of
the debris, but to the surprise of many it wasn't a comet. The source
of the Geminids was apparently a rocky asteroid.
.
3200 PHAETHON, as the asteroid is now known, is in a highly elliptical
1.4 year orbit that brings it within 0.15 AU (astronomical units) of
the Sun. It made its closest recent approach to Earth in December 1997
when it passed within 0.31 AU of our planet.
.
But how does an asteroid produce a meteoroid debris stream? Comets do
it easily whenever they pass close enough to the sun to heat their
frozen nucleus. Tiny bits of ice and dust naturally bubble away into
interplanetary space. Rocky asteroids are made of tougher stuff,
however, so it is unclear how bits of 3200 PHAETHON would break or
boil off to form a meteoroid stream.
.
One of the earliest ideas was that PHAETHON might occasionally collide
with other asteroids. Collisions would create a stream of pulverized
rocks that would account for the Geminids meteor shower. PHAETHON's
orbit passes through the asteroid belt just beyond Mars, so at first
this hypothesis seemed likely, but more detailed studies disagree. The
orbits of individual Geminid meteoroids are not consistent with the
idea that they broke free while in the asteroid belt. Instead, they
appear to have crumbled away when PHAETHON was closer to the Sun. In
this respect PHAETHON is behaving like a comet.
.
So, is PHAETHON a comet or an asteroid?
.
There are arguments in favor of both. PHAETHON's spectra look like
those of a rocky asteroid, but its orbit is similar to that of a
comet. When PHAETHON passes by the sun it doesn't develop a cometary
tail, but bits and pieces do break off to form the Geminid meteoroids.
By studying photographic records of fireballs, scientists have
estimated the density of the Geminid meteoroids to be between 1 and 2
gm/cc. That's less dense than typical asteroid material (3 gm/cc), but
several times denser than cometary dust flakes (0.3 gm/cc). Many
astronomers now believe that PHAETHON is an extinct or dormant comet
that has accumulated a thick crust of interplanetary dust grains.
PHAETHON's thick mantle gives it the outward appearance of an
asteroid, but underneath lies the nucleus of a comet.
.
The origin of the Geminids may not be fully understood until future
space travelers pay a visit to the asteroid-comet 3200 PHAETHON. Until
then we can still enjoy the sky show and savor the mystery of the
enigmatic Geminids.>>
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25 OCTOBER 1598 - Richard Quiney, who had arrived in London, to
plead the case at court for a reduction in the tax assessment levied
against Stratford upon Avon, addressed a letter to "To my Lovinge good
ffrend & contreyman Mr Wm Shackespere" (sic) "cravinge yowre helpe
with xxxll [£30] uppon *Mr BUSHELL's* & my securytee" But the letter
was never sent, and was eventually found among Quiney's papers.
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'Ch. Marl. THE TRAGICALL History of D.FAUSTUS'
Printed by V. S. for *THOMAS BUSHELL*. (1604):
......................................................................
FAUSTUS: I, *JOHN FAUSTUS* , OF WITTENBERG,
. Doctor, by these present, do give both body and soul
. To LUCIFER Prince of the East,
. and his minister Mephistophilis;
......................................................................
. King Henry IV, Part i Act 2, Scene 4
.
*JOHN FALSTAFF* : a plague of sighing and grief!
. it blows a man up like a *BLADDER* .
. There's villanous news abroad: here was
. Sir John Bracy from your father;
. you must to the court in the morning.
. That same mad fellow of the north, PERCY,
. and he of Wales, that gave Amamon
. the bastinado and *MADE LUCIFER* cuckold
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___________ *MADE LUCIFER*
______________ {anagram}
___________ *EMARICDULFE*
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<<[ *EMARICDULFE* author] E.C. & Shakespeare use identical
phrases, including these: "GOLDEN SLUMBER," "sweet repose",>>
.
. The Mystery of *EMARICDULFE*
(Reprinted from SOBRAN'S, January 1998, pp. 5-6)
.
<<While browsing through a couple of poetry anthologies,
I ran across a few sonnets, author unknown, from an
Elizabethan sonnet cycle oddly titled *EMARICDULFE* ,
published in 1595. I was already sure that the Earl of Oxford,
better known as "William Shakespeare," had written
the lovely sonnet published under the mythological name
"PHAETON" in 1591; could he have written these too?
.
The style, though erratic, was sufficient. But there also were
details that had close matches in the Shakespeare works.
The more I studied the poems, the more Shakespearean
parallels I found. Eventually I identified more than 200 -
- five per sonnet, or one every three lines!
.
Number 24 of the 40 sonnets is the most vivid & interesting example:
.
1. Oft have I heard *HONEY-TONGU'D ladies speak,
2. Striving their amorous courtiers to enchant,
3. And from their *NECTAR LIPS such SWeet words* break,
4. As neither art nor heavenly skill did want.
5. But when Emaricdulfe gins to discourse,
6. Her words are more than well-tun'd harmony,
7. And every sentence of a greater force
8. Than Mermaids' song, or Sirens' sorcery;
9. And if to hear her speak, Laertes' heir
10. The wise Ulysses liv'd us now among,
11. From her sweet words he could not stop his ear,
12. As from the Sirens' and the Mermaids' song;
13. And had she in the Sirens' place but stood,
14. Her heavenly voice had drown'd him in the flood.
.
. Obviously *EMARICDULFE* is a code name.>>
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Art Neuendorffer