If you thought you'd already missed your chance to watch the tremendous asteroid, 4179 Toutatis, buzz by earth last week, you're in luck. A new video has surfaced capturing the rare cosmic event in all its glory.
Scientists were able to create the video of the long-studied asteroid by working with NASA's 230-foot-wide Deep Space Network antenna at Goldstone, Calif. The video wasn't traditionally filmed, but was instead generated through a series of radar data images of the asteroid as it made its closest Earth fly-by on Dec. 12, 2012. The images that make up the movie clip were generated with data taken on Dec. 12 and 13, 2012, says NASA.
The day of the asteroid's closest approach to Earth, Toutatis was about 18 lunar distances, or 4.3 million miles from Earth. On Dec. 13, Toutatis was 18.2 lunar distances, or about 4.4 million miles, says NASA.
"The radar data images of asteroid Toutatis indicate that it is an elongated, irregularly shaped object with ridges and perhaps craters. Along with shape detail, scientists are also seeing some interesting bright glints that could be surface boulders," NASA noted.
NASA was also able to learn more about the asteroids rotational pattern.
"Toutatis has a very slow, tumbling rotational state. The asteroid rotates about its long axis every 5.4 days and precesses (changes the orientation of its rotational axis) like a wobbling, badly thrown football, every 7.4 days," said NASA.
With a shape that's been described as "peanut-like" or a "malformed potato," 4179 Toutatis is considered a "potentially hazardous" asteroid because it makes repeated passes by the Earth, about every four years. However, at this point its orbit is well understood, NASA says. The Earth won't cross paths with the asteroid again until November 2069, when Toutatis will safely whiz by at about 7.7 lunar distances, or 1.8 million miles.
According to NASA, there is zero chance of the asteroid colliding with Earth "over the entire interval over which its motion can be accurately computed, which is about the next four centuries."
This radar data created video will aid scientists in further understanding the asteroid's spin state and its interior, NASA says.
At nearly three miles wide, 4179 Toutatis is roughly half the size of the asteroid thought to have destroyed the dinosaurs.
The 4179 Toutatis asteroid was first discovered in 1934, according to the Los Angeles Times. However, the phenomenon was lost for over half a century until it was re-discovered by Christian Pollas in 1989, who is also responsible for naming it after a Gaulish God who was featured prominently in the French animated TV show, "Les aventures d'Asterix." The program concerns two heroes living in 50 B.C. who aren't afraid of anything, except the sky falling down, according to the Times.
"Since this object is the Apollo object with the smallest inclination known, it is a good candidate to fall on our heads one of these days ..." Pollas wrote, reported the Times.
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