How appropriate.
Sep. 27th, 2004 11:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
novapsycheAsteroid Toutatis Makes Closest Pass in 651 Years
An asteroid named for a Celtic god of war will come as close to Earth this week as it has since 1353.
[...] This asteroid makes a roughly four-year trip around the sun that swings from just inside Earth's orbit to outside the orbit of Mars. Because both Earth and Toutatis are in continual motion, the distance between them at closest approach every four years varies greatly.
While not dangerous for now, asteroid Toutatis is incredibly strange. And scientists are quite familiar with it, having bounced radar off the tumbling stone on previous flybys to generate computer renderings of its weird shape and movement.
Toutatis looks something like a dumbbell hurtling awkwardly through space. It has a crazy rotation that makes normal days impossible. Scientists can't explain the shape or the spin, but they're eager to learn more in September when, during the close pass, even backyard skywatchers will be able to spot the asteroid.
***
Americans, wake up.
Four hurricanes in Florida, and now we have a cosmic dumbbell named for a god of war taking aim at our planet?
God is trying to tell you something.
More about Toutatis, even what his name means
An asteroid named for a Celtic god of war will come as close to Earth this week as it has since 1353.
[...] This asteroid makes a roughly four-year trip around the sun that swings from just inside Earth's orbit to outside the orbit of Mars. Because both Earth and Toutatis are in continual motion, the distance between them at closest approach every four years varies greatly.
While not dangerous for now, asteroid Toutatis is incredibly strange. And scientists are quite familiar with it, having bounced radar off the tumbling stone on previous flybys to generate computer renderings of its weird shape and movement.
Toutatis looks something like a dumbbell hurtling awkwardly through space. It has a crazy rotation that makes normal days impossible. Scientists can't explain the shape or the spin, but they're eager to learn more in September when, during the close pass, even backyard skywatchers will be able to spot the asteroid.
***
Americans, wake up.
Four hurricanes in Florida, and now we have a cosmic dumbbell named for a god of war taking aim at our planet?
God is trying to tell you something.
More about Toutatis, even what his name means
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Date: 2004-09-27 10:58 pm (UTC)