Refiner of Gold Creations'

Solar System -- Asteroids

Apollo Asteroids of Curious Shape
4769 Castalia & 4179 Toutatis
  • Discovered through the use of a new radar technique.
    • Images obtained from close-approaching Apollo asteroids.
    • Radar waves are bounced off these space-bound objects.
    • First used by astronomer Steven Ostro of Cal Tech.
  • 4769 Castalia sidcovered in 1989.
    • Originally designated as 1989 PB during cataloging.
    • Gave a double return when Ostro bounced radar signals off it.
    • This echo indicated a dumb-bell shape to the asteroid.
    • A crude image was obtainable from the radar signal.
  • Castalia is about 1.7 x 1.0 km in size (1,900 x 1,100 yards).
  • Castalia's rotation is about 5 hours.
  • 4179 Toutalis:
    • A photo-like radar image was obtained by Ostro in 1992.
    • Toutalis resembles two lumpy, cratered rocks stuck together.
  • Toutalis is about 4 x 7 km (2.5 x 4 miles) in size.
  • Toutalis' rotation is about 10-11 Earth-days.
    • It is the slowest-rotating asteroid known.
  • A rocky composition for Toutalis is revealed by spectra.

~ | ~ Flyby Ceres ~ | ~ Flyby Vesta ~ | ~ Flyby Gaspra ~ | ~ Flyby Hektor ~ | ~
~ | ~ Flyby 1221 Amor ~ | ~ Flyby 1862 Apollo ~ | ~ Flyby 1991 BA ~ | ~
~ | ~ Forward to Jupiter ~ | ~ Back to Mars ~ | ~ Back to Asteroids ~ | ~
~ | ~ Return to Solar System ~ | ~ Lexicon of Astronomy ~ | ~ Planetary Statistics ~ | ~
Refiner of Gold Creations
1998 Solar System Facts
Created by EMC on 6/23/1997. Updated 5/4/2005.