EOCA 4179

4179 Toutatis. Dimensions: 2.9 miles by 1.5 miles by 1.2 miles. The plane of Toutatis's orbit is closer to the plane of the Earth's orbit than any known Earth-Orbit-Crossing Asteroid. Toutatis crosses earth orbit once every 4 years: 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012. On September 29, 2004, Toutatis will pass by Earth at a range of four times the distance between the Earth and the Moon, the closest approach of any known asteroid or comet between now and 2060. One consequence of the asteroid's frequent close approaches to Earth is that its trajectory cannot be predicted accurately. In fact, of all the Earth-crossing asteroids, the orbit of Toutatis is thought to be one of the most chaotic. Two NASA-sponsored scientists studying the Earth- crossing asteroid 4179 Toutatis with radio telescopes have found it to be one of the strangest objects in the solar system, with a highly irregular shape and an extraordinarily complex "tumbling" rotation.

EOCA 4179

Fitting perhaps that we should fear an interstellar bullet, we have killed so much with our own bullets... Close call for HaLLOWEEN 2000 EOCA: A Bullet From A Long Ago Destroyed Planet? Or in a Class of its Own? . . . Lucifer's Hammer was chosen by Larry Niven for the title of his account of a massive earth strike in 1977, long before anyone had a radar image like the above... In Niven's story Lucifer, a darkstar companion to the sun, knocks a comet out of orbit, sending it hurtling toward earth: "Lucifer's Hammer". . . . Asteroid And Comet Impact Hazards . . . It happens all the time, with no warning... . . .