[missyme]

Isn't it possible for a peice of the Dumbell Size Asteroid coming apart striking earth? who knows maybe it will strike Mecca?

[Ptarmigan]

I remember in 1992, asteroid Toutatis, had it come 6 hours later, it would of hit Earth. Anyways, this asteroid will not hit us. Too bad, I won't be able to see it through my telescope. I have seen bright comets before and they are really cool. On January 7, 2005, Comet Machholz will be right by the Pleiades star cluster in Taurus. A sight to see.
Comet Machholz.

[Conan the Librarian]

There is a movie of the astroid going by on www.spaceweather.com

[mlbford2]

I'm wearing clean underwear tomorrow.

[SamAdams76]

If an asteroid like this does hit us, then all this worrying will have done us no good at all because we will all be dead.

[mnehring]

Its all Bush's fault. Somehow global warming will pull it closer... I can see the next MoveOn ad.

[GreenHornet]

Toutatis looks something like a dumbbell hurtling awkwardly through space. It has a crazy rotation that makes normal days impossible. Scientists can't explain the shape or the spin, but they're eager to learn more in September

This could be a description of the Kerry campaign.

[gitmo]

The rumors are likely rooted in a real event, however. On Sept. 29, 2004 an asteroid the size of a small city will make the closest known pass of such a very large space rock anytime this century.

Seeing as we're less than 4 years into the century, why not rephrase this as:

"The rumors are likely rooted in a real event, however. On Sept. 29, 2004 an asteroid the size of a small city will make the closest known pass of such a very large space rock in the last 4 years."?

[ApplegateRanch]

the closest known pass of such a very large space rock anytime this century.

Gee only 3/4 of the way through the fourth year of the Twenty First Century, and they are already spouting this phrase, as if they can read the future so very well.

It is the ones they don't know about that need to be worried over.

On Sept. 29, backyard skywatchers on Earth can find Toutatis, providing they know where to look.

But, you, oh Omniscient Writer, will keep that a secret from the Lowly Reader.

Ordinary binoculars should be sufficient for spotting it if the sky is clear and dark,

But, since the moon was full last night, not much chance of that, now is there?

Ostro points out a simple relationship between the distance of Toutatis at this close approach and the size of the Moon. Toutatis will be four times farther than the Moon; the Moon is about ¼ the size of Earth.

Makes me wonder what the relative brightness would be of Luna vs Terra from that sucker???????

Guess I better toddle over to Sky & Telescope....

[franky]

A few months ago NASA was about to warn Bush that an asteroid was on a course that if changed by 1 degree would hit earth. They had planned in suggesting A Bomb Missles to go against if if the course changed. It did not.

Geologist have mentioned California for a near future quake. Vesuvius, Etna, Hiwaii, Helens and the national park in Colorado/Nevada as locations for eruptions

[Cogadh na Sith]

a large and deadly asteroid will strike Earth this fall.

It can't come soon enough for me....

[Nick Danger]

Toutatis, officially numbered 4179, was discovered by French astronomers in 1989.

The French probably surrendered on the spot, so if it's going to hit the Earth, it will hit France. Talk about a wine press.

[steve86]

Anyone who wants to place a bet on the asteroid hitting the earth or Mt. St. Helens erupting can send me money. Spider wagers accepted also. In case of the asteroid bets, better Fed-Ex it.

[MissAmericanPie]

I wonder what kind of damage an impact of that size would do. If there were ever an impact it most likely would hit in the Atlantic or Pacific. Lot's of dead fish, that's for sure.

[Truth666]

Astronomers know nothing about the universe, except for a few large bodies with regular orbits. Any idiot should have understood that the latest by April 14, 2004, as comet Bradfield (diameter : 10,000 km) popped out of nowhere to become the largest body ever recorded in the inner solar system.

Transcript from http://edition.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/09/28/asteriod.fly/index.html

HOW - 1. "actually you will not be able to see it ... "

Spotting Toutatis
Toutatis will not be visible to the unaided eye. Experienced telescope users can see it now from the Southern Hemisphere, and in early October it will be visible from the north.

Finding Toutatis will be challenging, Harris said, due to a combination of the asteroid's position in the sky and interfering moonlight.

Because the asteroid is so close, its location in the sky will vary significantly for skywatchers in different places on Earth at any given moment. And because it moves quickly, the location changes constantly. Printed sky maps don't always provide enough detail to be useful.

"In a large telescope the motion would be perceptible against any stars in the field more or less in real time, sort of like watching the second hand on a clock," Harris said, adding that the movement would be "not quite that fast, but noticeable."

Highly experienced observers will use complex plotting information known as ephemeris data. Others can use software programs that generate maps for specific times and locations.

At its closest on September 29, Toutatis will be visible only to observers in the Southern Hemisphere.

Large and steady binoculars will be able to pick out the pinprick of sunlight reflecting off the asteroid, providing observers "use a good program like Starry Night Pro to plot its incredibly rapid motion across the sky," said Clay Sherrod of the Arkansas Sky Observatory. (The software company Starry Night is owned by Imaginova, parent also of SPACE.com.)

Soon thereafter, experienced backyard astronomers north of the equator will have a chance to find Toutatis.

"By early October, it will suddenly be re-emerging into northern skies as its apparent trajectory will bring it back into very favorable view," Sherrod said in an e-mail interview. But by then the asteroid will be moving away from Earth and getting dimmer. It will quickly become "very difficult" to spot even with an 8-inch telescope, he said.

HOW - 2. "... but we already saw it "

Sherrod photographed the giant space rock last week (it was visible then in the north through large telescopes) and said exposures longer than eight seconds showed a trail as the giant rock moved slightly against the background of stars.

"It has been quite a wonderful show so far," he said.

HOW / WHY - "we know all about what's going on around us - even about the weirdest, smallest body"

Asteroid Toutatis was discovered in 1989. Scientists have modeled its strange rotation and odd shape -- it looks something like a pockmarked dumbbell -- on previous flybys.

Instead of a fixed north pole, Toutatis' axis of rotation wanders in two separate cycles of 5.4 and 7.3 Earth-days. So while most asteroids rotate somewhat like a football thrown in a perfect spiral, "Toutatis tumbles like a flubbed pass," says Scott Hudson of Washington State University.

Astronomers will use this week's flyby to examine Toutatis in greater detail, with a goal of pinning down the rock's rate of spin and better estimating its future path.


WHY - "relax, nothing is going to happen here, at least in your life time"

While some rumors have suggested the asteroid's forecasted course might be off by enough to cause a collision with Earth, Sherrod agrees with Harris and other scientists that there is no chance for calamity. Sherrod has been monitoring Toutatis' movement since July 3, logging more than 500 observations that allow mapping of a precise trajectory.

"Although the actual path of it has indeed varied a slight bit from the original calculated, there is absolutely no chance of a physical encounter or impact with Earth," he said.