Radar Images of Asteroid 4179 Toutatis

Delay-Doppler images of the Earth-crossing asteroid 4179 Toutatis achieve resolutions as fine as 125 nanoseconds (19 meters in range) and 8.3 millihertz (0.15 millimeter per second in radial velocity) and place hundreds to thousands of pixels on the asteroid, which appears to be several kilometers l...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) 1995-10, Vol.270 (5233), p.80-83
Main Authors: Ostro, Steven J., Hudson, R. Scott, Jurgens, Raymond F., Rosema, Keith D., Campbell, Donald B., Yeomans, Donald K., Chandler, John F., Giorgini, Jon D., Winkler, Ron, Rose, Randy, Howard, S. Denise, Slade, Martin A., Perillat, Phil, Shapiro, Irwin I.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Asteroids
Asteroids (minor planets)
Astrometry
Astronomy
Astrophysics
Axes of rotation
Earth, ocean, space
Ephemerides
Exact sciences and technology
Inertia
Motion
Physics
Planets, their satellites and rings. Asteroids
Portrayals
Principals
Radar
Radial velocity
Rotation
Rotational states
Scientific Concepts
Solar system
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Summary:Delay-Doppler images of the Earth-crossing asteroid 4179 Toutatis achieve resolutions as fine as 125 nanoseconds (19 meters in range) and 8.3 millihertz (0.15 millimeter per second in radial velocity) and place hundreds to thousands of pixels on the asteroid, which appears to be several kilometers long, topographically bifurcated, and heavily cratered. The image sequence reveals Toutatis to be in an extremely slow, non-principal axis rotation state.
ISSN:0036-8075
1095-9203
DOI:10.1126/science.270.5233.80