(4179) Toutatis

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( 4179 ) is a near-Earth asteroid Toutatis ( asteroid ), from the group of Apollo asteroids; These are celestial bodies, their path may cross the Earth's orbit. However, he is also one of the Alinda asteroids, which he is in 3:1 orbital resonance with Jupiter and in 1:4 resonance to the earth, that is, it orbits Jupiter in circulation during a three and within four Earth years once the sun. Due to its eccentric orbit means that Toutatis approaches between the earth and occur regularly every four years.

Toutatis was discovered on January 4, 1989 by Christian Pollas. It is named after the Celtic god Toutatis.

Toutatis is between 0.9212 AU ( perihelion ) and 4.1238 AU ( aphelion ) in about 1463 days on an eccentric orbit around the sun. The orbital eccentricity is 0.6348, the orbit is inclined by 0.446 ° to the ecliptic. However, his path is strongly influenced by the gravitational field of the earth.

Research

Radar observations of the observatories Arecibo and Goldstone have shown that Toutatis an irregularly shaped body of 4.5 × 2.4 × 1.9 km scale. It rotates in two different periods of 5.41 and 7.35 days to its longitudinal axis. The albedo is 0.13.

On 29 September 2004 Toutatis is only about four times the lunar distance ( 1,549,719 km ) past the earth moved. The asteroid was seen in the southern sky with a very good view with binoculars. The penultimate approximation ( 7,524,773 km distance ) was held on November 9, 2008, the last (distance about 6.94 million kilometers ) on 12 December 2012.

On 13 December 2012, at 08:30 UTC, the Chinese space probe Chang'e -2 flew past km distance and a relative speed of 10.73 km / s at Toutatis in 3.2. Here, a series of images was taken from a distance 93-240 km.

After several crossings of the Earth's orbit at a greater distance from the earth Toutatis will happen in November 2069 at a distance of only three million miles to earth.

General

In a work commissioned by the Berlin Philharmonic with Sir Simon Rattle, the Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho set to music the asteroid under the Title of Asteroid 4179: Toutatis.