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City-Sized Asteroid to Pass Earth This Fall

Posted by michael on from the horseshoes-and-hand-grenades dept.

FiniteLoop sends a collection of links about a city-sized asteroid named Toutatis which will approach - but miss - Earth this September. MSNBC also has a story, and JPL and the Near Earth Object program have more information.

3 of 340 comments (clear)

  1. Re:City sized? by Caseylite · · Score: 5, Informative

    A little under 5 square miles, according to the article. Culver City, California Alma, Texas Lexington, South Carolina Pine Ridge, South Carolina Lake Worth, Florida In other words, a small city.

  2. Re:City sized? by PopCulture · · Score: 5, Informative

    Toutatis is about 2.9 miles long and 1.5 miles wide (4.6 by 2.4 kilometers).

    So its probably closer in size to downtown Rose Bud, Arkansas (certainly excluding the busteling suburban Rose Bud outlying areas)

    --

    Here's to finally giving Bush his exit strategy in November
  3. God of War by sssmashy · · Score: 5, Informative

    Asterix and Obelix fans may recall that Toutatis, a name frequently invoked by those indomitable Gauls, is in fact the ancient French god of war, growth and prosperity.

    Invoking Toutatis during battle was supposed to bring about certain victory for the pre-Christian French warriors. Which is why it is such an appropriate moniker for a comet that appears just once every 500 years... ;-)