NationMaster - Encyclopedia: 4179 Toutatis

The asteroid 4179 Toutatis (too-ta'-tis) is an Apollo, an Alinda and a Mars-crosser asteroid with a chaotic orbit produced by a 3:1 resonance with the planet Jupiter. Due to its very low orbital inclination (0.47°) and its orbital period of very nearly 4 years, Toutatis makes frequent close approaches to Earth, with a minimum distance at present of just 0.006 AU (2.3 times as far as the Moon). The approach on September 29, 2004 was particularly close, at 0.0104 AU (within 4 lunar distances) from Earth, presenting a good opportunity for observation. The next approach after that will be November 9, 2008 at 0.0503 AU. Christian Pollas is a French astronomer. ... January 4 is the 4th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The provisional designation of comets and asteroids are similar to each other: they both follow a pattern set in 1925 by the Minor Planet Center of the IAU. Historical designations At first, astronomers strove to assign symbols to the minor planets: 1 Ceres a stylized sickle 2 Pallas a lozenge... Minor planets, or planetoids are minor bodies of the Solar system orbiting the Sun (or of other planetary systems orbiting other stars) that are larger than meteoroids (the largest of which might be taken to be around 10 meters or so across) but smaller than major planets (Mercury having a... The Apollo asteroid 25143 Itokawa. ... The Alinda asteroids are a group of asteroids with a semi-major axis of about 2. ... A Mars-crosser asteroid is an asteroid whose orbit crosses that of Mars. ... In astronomy, an epoch is a moment in time for which celestial coordinates or orbital elements are specified. ... October 22 is the 295th day of the year (296th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 70 days remaining. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Julian day or Julian day number (JDN) is the number of days that have elapsed since 12 noon Greenwich Mean Time (UT or TT) on Monday, January 1, 4713 BC in the proleptic Julian calendar . ... In astrodynamics, under standard assumptions any orbit must be of conic section shape. ... In geometry, the semi-major axis (also semimajor axis) a applies to ellipses and hyperbolas. ... giga- (symbol: G) is a prefix in the SI system of units denoting 109, or 1 000 000 000. ... The metre, or meter, is a measure of length, approximately equal to 3. ... The astronomical unit (AU or au or a. ... This article is about several astronomical terms (apogee & perigee, aphelion & perihelion, generic equivalents based on apsis, and related but rarer terms. ... This article is about several astronomical terms (apogee & perigee, aphelion & perihelion, generic equivalents based on apsis, and related but rarer terms. ... The orbital period is the time it takes a planet (or another object) to make one full orbit. ... A day (symbol: d) is a unit of time equal to 24 hours. ... In astronomy, a Julian year is a unit of time defined as exactly 365. ... The orbital speed of a body, generally a planet, a natural satellite, an artificial satellite, or a multiple star, is the speed at which it orbits around the barycenter of a system, usually around a more massive body. ... Look up second in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Inclination in general is the angle between a reference plane and another plane or axis of direction. ... A degree (in full, a degree of arc, arc degree, or arcdegree), usually symbolized Â°, is a measurement of plane angle, representing 1ï¼360 of a full rotation. ... The Longitude of the ascending node () is one of the orbital elements used to specify the orbit of an object in space. ... The argument of the perihelion is one of the orbital elements describing the orbit of a planet. ... In the study of orbital dynamics the mean anomaly is a measure of time, specific to the orbiting body p, which is a multiple of 2π radians at and only at periapsis. ... For the majority of numbered asteroids, almost nothing is known apart from a few physical parameters. ... A kilometre (American spelling: kilometer), symbol: km is a unit of length in the metric system equal to 1000 metres (from the Greek words Ï‡Î¯Î»Î¹Î± (khilia) = thousand and Î¼ÎÏ„ÏÎ¿ (metro) = count/measure). ... Mass is a property of a physical object that quantifies the amount of matter and energy it contains. ... The international prototype, made of platinum-iridium, which is kept at the BIPM under conditions specified by the 1st CGPM in 1889. ... Density (symbol: Ï - Greek: rho) is a measure of mass per unit of volume. ... A cubic centimetre (cm3) is an SI derived unit of volume, equal to the volume of a cube with side length of 1 centi metre. ... 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The kelvin (symbol: K) is the SI unit of temperature, and is one of the seven SI base units. ... An asteroid is a small, solid object in our Solar System, orbiting the Sun. ... The Apollo asteroid 25143 Itokawa. ... The Alinda asteroids are a group of asteroids with a semi-major axis of about 2. ... A Mars-crosser asteroid is an asteroid whose orbit crosses that of Mars. ... A plot of the trajectory Lorenz system for values r = 28, Ïƒ = 10, b = 8/3 In mathematics and physics, chaos theory describes the behavior of certain nonlinear dynamical systems that under certain conditions exhibit a phenomenon known as chaos. ... In celestial mechanics, an orbital resonance occurs when two orbiting bodies exert a regular, periodic gravitational influence on each other. ... Atmospheric characteristics Atmospheric pressure 70 kPa Hydrogen ~86% Helium ~14% Methane 0. ... Inclination in general is the angle between a reference plane and another plane or axis of direction. ... The astronomical unit (AU or au or a. ... Bulk composition of the moons mantle and crust estimated, weight percent Oxygen 42. ... September 29 is the 272nd day of the year (273rd in leap years). ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... In astronomy, a lunar distance ( LD ) is a measurement of the distance from the Earth to the Moon. ... November 9 is the 313th day of the year (314th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 52 days remaining. ... 2008 (MMVIII) will be a leap year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Its rotation combines two separate periodic motions into a non-periodic result; to someone on the surface of Toutatis the Sun would seem to rise and set in apparently random locations and at random times at the asteroid's horizon. The Sun is the star at the center of Earths solar system. ...

It was discovered on January 4, 1989 by Christian Pollas and was named after the mock Celtic deity Toutatis, Astérix's village-god, himself inspired by the real Teutates, a Gallic war god. January 4 is the 4th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Christian Pollas is a French astronomer. ... Celtic mythology is the mythology of Celtic polytheism, apparently the religion of the Iron Age Celts. ... Toutatis or Teutates, ancient god of Celts and Gauls, whose name means father of the tribe. ... A shrewd, cunning little warrior; all perilous missions are immediately entrusted to him. ... Toutatis or Teutates, ancient god of Celts and Gauls, whose name means father of the tribe. ... Gallic, derived from the name for the ancient Roman province of Gaul, describes the cultural traditions and national characters of the French speaking nations and regions, as Hispanic does for the Hispanophone world, Anglo-Saxon for the Anglophone, and Lusitanic for the Lusophone. ...

Radar imagery has shown that Toutatis is a highly irregular body consisting of two distinct "lobes", with maximum widths of about 4.6 km and 2.4 km respectively. It is hypothesized that Toutatis formed from two originally separate bodies which coalesced at some point, with the resultant asteroid being compared to a "rubble pile".

Download high resolution version (1024x818, 99 KB) A 3D computer model of the different faces of Asteroid 4179 Toutatis Copyright status Public domain: NASAs JPL Digital Image Animation Laboratory. ... Download high resolution version (1024x818, 99 KB) A 3D computer model of the different faces of Asteroid 4179 Toutatis Copyright status Public domain: NASAs JPL Digital Image Animation Laboratory. ...

Just how close is that?

To put the September 29, 2004 approach in perspective, imagine the asteroid and the Earth as two race cars, on two racetracks that represent their two orbits. The asteroid's track is about the length of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but wider: 1.5 km long and 1.2 km wide. Earth's track would be a circle 600 m (650 yards) in diameter located inside the asteroid's track, intersecting it near one end. At this scale, when the two speeding cars reach the intersection, they would pass within 3.2 m (10.2 ft, or two-thirds of a car-length) of each other, and could theoretically pass within 1.8 m (6 ft) of each other. September 29 is the 272nd day of the year (273rd in leap years). ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Indianapolis Motor Speedway Wing and Wheel Indianapolis Motor Speedway, located in Speedway, Indiana (a separate city completely surrounded by Indianapolis) in the United States, is the second-oldest surviving automobile racing track in the world (after the Milwaukee Mile), having existed since 1909, and the original Speedway, the first racing...

The analogy breaks down, however, when one notes that the real "tracks" (representing the orbits) are not fixed in space and could be perturbed in the future.

Just how close is that?

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Just how close is that?