NEO 4179 Toutatis

Safe again!!!

4179 Toutatis - NEOA mountain-sized asteroid will make its closest approach to Earth at 6:35

a.m. Pacific Time (9:35 a.m. Eastern Time) 9/29/04• Asteroid 4179 Toutatis will come no closer than four times the

distance between Earth and the Moon (approximately 1.5 million kilometers), this will be the closest approach of any known asteroid of comparable size this century.

• "This is the closest Toutatis will come for another 500 years, and its orbit is very well known,"

• Named after a Celtic and Gallic god called upon by Asterix, Toutatis is a yam-shaped space rock that measures 1.92 kilometers (1.2 miles) by 2.29 kilometers (1.4 miles) by 4.6 kilometers (2.9 miles).

• Toutatis has one of the strangest rotation states observed in the solar system. Instead of spinning around a single axis, it "tumbles" somewhat like a football after a botched pass. Its rotation is the result of two different types of motion with periods of 5.4 and 7.3 Earth days, which combine in such a way that it's orientation, with respect to the solar system, never repeats.

• When the asteroid flies past Earth, it will be traveling at approximately 39,600 kilometers per hour (24,550 miles per hour).  Toutatis will not be this close again until 2562.  It was discovered in 1989.

Toutatis on Radar

• Could it be two asteroids that hit each other and are now in contact or joined?

• Toutatisover timetaken withradar

DisclaimerAloha

I put together these power points for use in my science classes.You may use them in your classes.

Some images are public domain, some are used under the fair-use provisions of the copyright law, some are mine. Copyright is retained by the owners!

Ted Brattstrom