4179 Toutatis

Asteroid 4179 Toutatis is a well-known and potentially hazardous asteroid that follows an intricate and elongated orbit between Mars and Earth, classified as a near-Earth object (NEO). Discovered on January 4, 1989, by the French astronomer Christian Pollas, Toutatis is irregularly shaped and consists of two main components joined by a central neck. Its dimensions are approximately 5.4 kilometers (3.4 miles) by 2.4 kilometers (1.5 miles) by 1.9 kilometers (1.2 miles). One of its remarkable characteristics is its complex tumbling and irregular rotation, completing a full rotation around its axis every 5.4 Earth days. Toutatis orbits the Sun roughly every 4 Earth years, but its orbit brings it particularly close to Earth periodically. Although it poses no imminent threat to our planet, Toutatis has been classified as a potentially hazardous asteroid due to its close approaches. It passed relatively close to Earth in September 2004, providing astronomers and space agencies, such as NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA), an opportunity to study it extensively using radar and imaging techniques. The Chinese probe Chang’e 2 performed a flyby of Toutatis, revealing the asteroid in detail.