Don Savage

Headquarters, Washington, DC November 27, 1996

(Phone: 202/358-1547)

Jane Platt
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA
(Phone: 818/354-5011)

RELEASE: 96-249

ODDBALL ASTEROID CAPTURED ON NEW VIDEO COMPUTER SIMULATION

A new computer-generated video visualization is giving

planetary scientists a fresh look at the topsy-turvy rotation
of the intriguing asteroid Toutatis, which is due to pass
near Earth on Nov. 29.

Dr. Eric De Jong and animator Shigeru Suzuki of NASA�s

Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, CA, combined
several computer simulation and scientific visualization
techniques to show the bizarre rotation and surface details
of Toutatis as it tumbles erratically on its journey around
the Sun. The video includes images of Toutatis from various
vantage points, including the perspective of someone standing
on its surface. In addition, trajectories and explosive
surface impacts are shown for a more typical near-Earth
asteroid, named Castalia.

The animation was created at the JPL Digital Image

Animation Laboratory (DIAL) from a model based on a previous
sequence of delay-Doppler radar images. Those images were
recorded at NASA's Deep Space Network 70-meter and 34-meter
radio/radar antennas in Goldstone, CA, and the 305-meter
Arecibo Radio Telescope in Puerto Rico.

"It's amazing that the shape of Toutatis can be

determined so accurately from ground-based observations," De
Jong said. "This technology will provide us with startling,
close-up views of thousands of asteroids that orbit near the
Earth."

Dr. Scott Hudson of Washington State University,

Pullman, WA, collaborated on the venture, along with
scientists at NASA's Ames Research Center, Mountain View, CA.
"We used the computer to mathematically create a three-
dimensional model of the surface and rotation of Toutatis,"
Hudson said. "It's as though we put a clay model in space and
molded it until it matched the appearance of the actual
asteroid."

The video is of particular interest as Toutatis nears

Earth and makes its closest approach on Friday, Nov. 29, when
it will pass by at a distance of 3.3 million miles (5.3
million kilometers), or about 14 times the distance from the
Earth to the Moon. In 2004, Toutatis will pass only four
lunar distances from Earth, closer than any known Earth-
approaching object expected to pass by in the next 60 years.
 However, "Toutatis poses no significant threat to Earth,
at least for a few hundred years," according to JPL senior
research scientist Dr. Steven Ostro, who observed Toutatis in
1992 and is studying the asteroid once again this week at
Goldstone.

Discovered in 1989 and named after a Celtic god, the

asteroid Toutatis has dimensions of 2.9 by 1.5 by 1.2 miles
(4.6 by 2.4 by 1.9 kilometers.) It is considered one of the
strangest bodies in the Solar System, given its peculiar
rotation and odd shape, which resembles two chunks of rock
connected by a narrow neck-like structure. The rocky body's
strange traits are believed to be the result of a history of
violent collisions.

Asteroids, sometimes known as minor planets, are small

orbiting bodies composed of rock and metals. They hold
special fascination for scientists because of their age,
quantity and proximity to the Earth. Scientists estimate that
there are more than 100,000 near-Earth asteroids larger than
a football stadium.

"The discovery that we live in an asteroid swarm is

important for the future of humanity," said Ostro. "These
leftover debris from planetary formation can teach us a good
deal about the formation of our Solar System. Asteroids also
contain valuable minerals and many are the cheapest possible
destinations for space missions."

For example, a flyby of the asteroid McAuliffe is

planned by the first flight mission in NASA's New Millenium
Program, which is designed to test and apply new technologies
for use in future space science and Earth science missions.
New Millennium is managed by JPL for NASA's Offices of Space
Science and Mission to Planet Earth, Washington, DC.

In addition, NASA's Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous

(NEAR) mission, launched in February 1996, is en route to the
asteroid Eros, which it will orbit beginning in January 1999.

Additional information on Toutatis and other asteroids

is available at the following websites:

http://echo.jpl.nasa.gov

http://www.eecs.wsu.edu/~hudson/asteroids.html.

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