Asteroid 4179 Toutatis (1996)
November 29, 1996 (CNN) web posting


-Asteroid Toutatis pass near the 
Earth Friday night (11-29-96) at a distance 
of 3.3 million miles (5.3  million kilometers), or about 14 
times the distance from the Earth to the Moon. 



Asteroids are rocky and metallic objects that orbit the Sun 
but are too small to be considered planets. They are 
sometimes known as minor planets.



Asteroids hold special fascination for scientists because of 
their age,  quantity and proximity to the Earth. Scientists 
estimate that there are more than 100,000 near-Earth 
asteroids larger than a football stadium.



A NASA animation, created with radar images from ground-
basing observing stations, shows the bizarre shape, surface 
texture, and rotation of the three-mile long asteroid. (NASA
computer animation -


 QTmove small 602K/19 sec. 

QTMove large)1.3M/19 sec


The asteroid Toutatis was discovered by French astronomers in 
1989 and named after a Celtic god.  It is considered one of 
the strangest bodies in the Solar System, given its peculiar 
rotation and bizarre shape, which resembles two chunks of 
rock connected by a narrow neck-like structure. 



The rocky body's strange traits are believed to be the result 
of a history of violent collisions.



Asteroid Toutatis last rounded the Earth in 1992 and will 
return again in 2004, when it will pass only four lunar 
distances from Earth -- closer than any known 
Earth-approaching object expected to pass by in the next 60 
years.