The asteroid 4179 Toutatis recently passed within about 4.3 million miles from Earth. The Deep Space Network in Goldstone, CA captured a series of radar images Wednesday and Thursday (Dec. 12 and 13), which someone kindly turned into a video. The asteroid is about 2.8 by 1.5 by 1.2 miles and is tumbling “like a badly thrown football”, spinning about its long axis every 5.4 days.
The Chinese lunar probe Chang’e 2 flew by the asteroid Dec. 13, but no images have been released yet.
FYI, Toutatis was a Celtic god.
via Huge Asteroid's Earth Flyby Caught on Video | Space.com.
Craig Swain
dgharvey
ultimaratioregis
roamingfirehydrant
themavf14d
xbradtc
That’s amazing. I know who Toutatis was. How sad is that??
If you look anything like your avatar, it won’t make a damned bit of difference!
I only wish I looked like a Vargas :)