As we're into the period of the Geminids meteor shower (peaking tonight), reputed to be really good, but one that I've never seen much of because of the weather, there are some interesting articles out about what causes it. Now, most meteor showers have been connected to various comets. The article describes how the Geminids are connected to object 3200_Phaethon, which doesn't act like a comet, but might be sort of a comet: rather that the "dirty snowball" model commonly applied to comets, 3200_Phaethon is possibly a "snowy dirtball". (Why that phrase never showed up on "Hill Street Blues", I'll never know).
Anyhow, I found one little picture of 3200_Phaethon imaged by radar (top), and a picture of it in the star field (bottom).
Also, some better pictures of Toutatis from the Goldstone radar. Toutatis just made a close pass, but not as close as it has been before. And it's a funny-shaped object.
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