Heliocentric distance (red plus; left ordinate) and the aspect angle (green dot; right ordinate) of asteroid (3200) Phaethon over time. (a) 50 rotations before and after the perihelion; (b) over one full orbit. Negative and positive times denote pre- and post-perihelion, respectively, where perihelion is indicated by the thick red dashed vertical line. The thin blue dashed vertical line in (a) indicates ± 10P_rot of Phaethon from its perihelion. The markers in (a) are separated by P_rot of Phaethon, while those in (b) are separated by 1 day. We note that the heliocentric distance changes by ~ 10% over ten rotations, and the aspect angle changes by ~1.5° per rotation near the perihelion.