Asteroid 4179 Toutatis Will Miss Earth, This Time

Posted by timothy on Saturday September 25, 2004 @08:09AM from the jimmy-carter's-revenge dept.

EtherAlchemist writes "National Geographic News reports in this story that a giant, peanut shaped asteroid known as 4179 Toutatis will pass within 1 million miles of Earth on Weds, the 29th. When it does, it will be the closest any known object of this size (3 miles) has passed near Earth in this century. No worry about impact yet, it should pose no threat until at least 2562. An interesting note: the asteroid believed to have caused Earth's biggest mass extinction is thought to have been between 3.7 and 7.5 miles as reported here in 2001." 2004 FU162 came closer, but is a much smaller object.

1 of 301 comments (clear)

Min score:

Reason:

Sort:

Re:Painting Your Way to Safety by Anonymous Coward · 2004-09-25 08:27 · Score: 5, Insightful

You do realise surely that 1000 small asteroids is a lot better than 1 large asteroid, right? The effect of 1000 small chunks would be greatly reduced due to them burning up faster while descending through the atmosphere. Same total velocity my ass, i'm all up for air resistance.