UA Telescopes will Monitor Close Approach of Asteroid Toutatis

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The asteroid Toutatis will make a close approach to the Earth this month. University of Alabama astronomers will be on the rooftop of Gallalee Hall at 7:30 p.m. on Sept. 24 to see if they can monitor its path, and the public is invited to join them.

Some Web sites are reporting the 3-mile-long asteroid will hit the Earth, but Dr. Bill Keel, professor of astronomy at UA, said that is not the case.

“This asteroid orbits the sun once every four years and will pass 1 million miles from the Earth,” Keel said. “While it is close enough that if you’re paying attention you can see it move, which can make your hair rise, we know the orbit it will take quite well.”

Backyard viewers will not be able to see the asteroid without binoculars or telescopes. “Its orbit will take it by the South Pole – a part of the sky that never rises in the Tuscaloosa area – so we’re tying to catch it a few nights before it travels below our southern horizon,” he said.

Keel said that chance is enough to get him out with a telescope. The asteroid Toutatis is shaped like a dumbbell, and its regular 4-year trek around the sun takes it from just inside the Earth’s path to between Mars and Jupiter. Asteroid Toutatis is officially numbered 4179 and was discovered by French astronomers in 1989.

Gallalee Hall is located on the UA campus near the intersection of Hackberry Lane and University Boulevard in Tuscaloosa. This is the second public viewing of the fall semester. Contact UA’s department of physics and astronomy at 205/348-5050 to check on sky conditions and for more information. Cloudy conditions are not conducive to star gazing.

The College of Arts and Sciences is the University’s largest division and the largest public liberal arts college in the state with 6,600 students and 360 faculty. Students from the College have won numerous national awards including Rhodes Scholarships, Goldwater Scholarships and memberships on the USA Today Academic All American Team.