Asteroid 4179 Toutatis from Cupertino, 9/20 and 9/21/2004

by Bob Jardine

I observed Toutatis from home Monday and Tuesday nights. It wasn't too hard to find, just a short hop from 36 Cap on Monday and from 34 (Zeta) Cap on Tuesday (I used the charts in Sky & Telescope magazine). I drew little diagrams each night to compare the position.

It was pretty dim, so I had to wait until after moonset. I'd guess about mag 11.0 to 11.5, based on comparison to the dimmest nearby stars I could see, which was about 12.0.

I knew from the charts in the magazine that its apparent position would shift significantly from night to night, but I was surprised that I could detect movement on Tuesday night in just 45 minutes. It helped that it was near two stars of almost the same magnitude, and formed a little obtuse triangle with them at first, but 45 minutes later it was colinear with them.

As it passes closer to Earth, it will be moving (apparently) even faster. However, the moon is starting to get in the way, so I'd suggest bigger aperture if you want to see it the next couple of nights. Then it's gone (unless you live much farther South).

(Observed with TV NP 101 at 60X (9mm).)

Posted on sf-bay-tac Sep 22, 2004 17:45:35 PT
Converted by report.pm 1.2 Jan 11, 2005 23:32:10 PT