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.

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ESO

Om bilden

ID:eso0430b
Typ:Observation
Publiceringsdatum:29 september 2004
Relaterade pressmeddelanden:eso0430
Storlek:2048 x 2042 px

Om objektet

Namn:4179 Toutatis
Typ:Solar System : Interplanetary Body : Asteroid
Kategori:Solar System

Bildformat

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Skärmstor jpeg
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Färger och filter

BandTeleskop
Synligt ljusVery Large Telescope
FORS1

Exposure time: 300s