Explanation:
On Wednesday, September 29,
asteroid
Toutatis came within one million miles of Earth -- the
closest predicted aproach of a sizable asteroid or comet to our
fair planet in this century.
Coming within
one million miles or about 4 times the Earth-Moon
distance, Earth would have appeared to be nearly the size of the full
moon in the asteroid's sky.
In Earth's sky,
Toutatis appeared
only as a faint, starlike, but rapidly moving object.
Even so,
asteroid 4179 Toutatis
was still bright enough to see in small telescopes.
Astronomers John Chumack, observing near Dayton Ohio, and
Juergen Wolf from near Palo Alto, California, offer these
composite images showing the progress of the asteroid
(seen as a series of dots) against a background of distant stars.
Their multiple exposures span a two hour period on two different days
about a week before the asteroid's record
close
approach, which tracked through night
skies south of the celestial
equator.
