Astronomy Picture of the Day ·

Toutatis Nears Planet Earth

The Astronomy Picture of the Day for October 2, 2004 is “Toutatis Nears Planet Earth,” an image. The picture is copyrighted by its creator (Image Credit & Copyright: Top: John Chumack / Bottom: Juergen Wolf). The original explanation runs about 158 words.

Toutatis Nears Planet Earth
Credit: Image Credit & Copyright: Top: John Chumack / Bottom: Juergen Wolf Copyrighted Shown from science.nasa.gov. Not hosted by OpenOrbit.

From the 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.”

— APOD editors, October 2, 2004

Read the full explanation on science.nasa.gov

At a glance

Date
October 2, 2004
Type
Image
Credit
Credit: Image Credit & Copyright: Top: John Chumack / Bottom: Juergen Wolf
Copyright
Copyrighted by the credited creator. Ask the copyright holder before reusing it.
Explanation length
About 158 words

All of October 2004 → · 2004 by month → · Full archive since 1995 →

Topics in this entry

CometsAsteroids

Topics are matched from words in the title and explanation.

On this day: October 2 in other years

On Amazon

Popular picks for space fans

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Source

Copy taken Oct 28, 2026, 2:39 AM EDT. The image and explanation belong to their creators. OpenOrbit is not affiliated with or endorsed by NASA.