Asteroid (4179) Toutatis passes the Earth

The asteroid (4179) Toutatis, as photographed with the FORS1 multimode instrument at the 8.2-m VLT Kueyen telescope at the ESO Paranal Observatory. At the time of these exposures, the asteroid was about 1,640,000 km from the Earth and moving rapidly across the sky in the southern constellation Ara (The Altar).

The exposure time was 5 min while the telescope was following the normal diurnal motion; the stars now appear as points of light, while the asteroid's long trail crosses the entire field-of-view. Both photos were obtained through a narrow optical filter.

Crediti:

ESO

Riguardo l'immagine

Identificazione:eso0430b
Tipo:Osservazione
Data di rilascio:29 Settembre 2004
Notizie relative:eso0430
Grandezza:2048 x 2042 px

Riguardo all'oggetto

Nome:4179 Toutatis
Tipo:Solar System : Interplanetary Body : Asteroid
Categoria:Solar System

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Colori e filtri

BandaTelescopio
OtticoVery Large Telescope
FORS1

Exposure time: 300s