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Asteroid Near-Earth Potentially hazardous

Toutatis

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4179 Toutatis (1989 AC)

Where is it now

Distance from Sun
4.077 AU
True anomaly
172.73°
Distance from Earth
5.038 AU
As of
11 October 2026

Two-body Kepler propagation — accurate to ~0.1% for major planets over decades, less so for highly-perturbed bodies. Use JPL Horizons for high precision.

Orbit of Mercury Orbit of Venus Orbit of Mars Sun Earth — 0.998 AU from the Sun Earth Toutatis — 4.077 AU from the Sun Toutatis
Seen from above the ecliptic, north up, to scale. Grid: Earth's orbit in blue. Toutatis is 5.038 AU from Earth today (41.9 light-minutes).

In the sky

Right ascension
14h 02m 31s
Declination
-12° 04′ 14″
Constellation
Virgo
Distance from Earth
5.04 AU
Elongation from the Sun
13.63° — too close to the Sun to observe

Visible from both hemispheres.

From your location

See how high it is right now, whether it is up after civil twilight, and when it rises and sets where you are.

How do I find my coordinates?

Google Maps on a computer

  1. Right-click the spot where you'll be observing.
  2. The first line of the menu is the coordinates, e.g. 51.50722, -0.12758 — click it and they're copied.
  3. Paste them above.

Google Maps on a phone

  1. Press and hold the spot to drop a pin.
  2. The coordinates appear in the search bar (or on the pin's card) — tap to copy, then paste above.

A full Google Maps link works too, but the short maps.app.goo.gl share links don't carry coordinates — copy the numbers instead. We round to about a kilometre; that's all the sky calculation needs.

Know your what3words address? Paste it, e.g. ///filled.count.soap. This is optional — the three words are sent to what3words to convert them, and we don't store the address or the result.

Your location stays in your browser and is sent only for this calculation. Using a what3words address is optional; if you do, the three words go to what3words to be converted and we don't record them. Set a location first, then you can save an email alert for this object. See our privacy policy.

Two-body approximation, good to about a degree for the planets — enough to find the constellation and know whether it is up.

Orbital elements

Semi-major axis
2.543 AU
Eccentricity
0.6246
Inclination
0.45°
Orbital period
4.06 years
Perihelion
0.955 AU
Aphelion
4.132 AU
Longitude of ascending node
125.37°
Argument of periapsis
277.86°
Epoch · J2000
2461200.5
Orbit class · APO
Apollo
Earth MOID · 2.5 LD
0.0065 AU
Tisserand (Jupiter)
3.138

Orbit quality

Orbit very well determined (uncertainty code 0).

Observations used
7,141
Data arc
92.26 years
First observed
10 February 1934
Last observed
16 May 2026
Residual RMS
0.27 ″
Solution · Otto Matic
16 June 2026

Physical properties

Mean radius
2.70 km
Rotation period
7.33 days
Shape · km
1.70x2.03x4.26

Visual & observation

Geometric albedo
0.405
Absolute magnitude (H)
15.29
Spectral type (SMASS)
Sk

Discovery & classification

Discovered by
Pollas, C.
Discovery date
4 January 1989
Discovery site
Caussols

Named after the Gaulish god, protector of the tribe. This totemic deity is well known because of the cartoon series <i>Les aventures d'Astérix</i> by Uderzo and Goscinny. This tells the stories of two almost fearless heroes living in the last village under siege in Roman-occupied Gaul in 50 B.C., and whose only fear is that the sky may fall onto their heads one day. Since this object is the Apollo object with the smallest inclination known, it is a good candidate to fall on our heads one of these days... But as the chief of the village always says: “C'est pas demain la veille...” Citation written by the discoverer and A. Maury and endorsed by J. D. Mulholland, who with Maury obtained the discovery plates.

Also known as 4179 · 1989 AC · 1934 CT

Apollo Near-Earth Object Named Potentially Hazardous Asteroid

Close approaches 26 on record

Flyby geometry
Ecliptic flyby of Toutatis at 2069-11-05 15:50 UTC Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2069-11-05 15:50 UTC close approach of Toutatis. Catalogue miss distance 7.72 LD · 2.97 × 10⁶ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2069-11-02 to 2069-11-08, with a mark at UTC midnights and an arrow for the direction of motion. The circle is the Moon’s mean orbit; the Moon is plotted at closest approach. A ray shows the Sun’s direction. The labelled distance is the full separation. The drawn radius is the part that lies in the ecliptic plane. At closest approach the object is south of the ecliptic. The path is a geocentric ecliptic ephemeris from JPL Horizons. The inset is a heliocentric view and is approximate. Sun 3 Nov 8 Nov 7.72 LD · 2.97 × 10⁶ km 2069-11-05 15:50 UTC Earth Moon Heliocentric, approximate

Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2069-11-05 15:50 UTC close approach of Toutatis. Catalogue miss distance 7.72 LD · 2.97 × 10⁶ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2069-11-02 to 2069-11-08, with a mark at UTC midnights and an arrow for the direction of motion. The circle is the Moon’s mean orbit; the Moon is plotted at closest approach. A ray shows the Sun’s direction. The labelled distance is the full separation. The drawn radius is the part that lies in the ecliptic plane. At closest approach the object is south of the ecliptic. The path is a geocentric ecliptic ephemeris from JPL Horizons. The inset is a heliocentric view and is approximate.

JPL Horizons

When (UTC) Body Distance Lunar distances Relative speed
2069-11-05 15:50:00 Earth 0.0198 AU 7.7 LD 8.4 km/s
2112-08-28 12:26:00 Juptr 1.7962 AU 699.0 LD 5.1 km/s
2124-09-18 10:25:00 Juptr 1.5127 AU 588.7 LD 4.3 km/s
2136-09-18 22:45:00 Juptr 1.369 AU 532.8 LD 4 km/s
2148-09-03 03:35:00 Juptr 1.308 AU 509.0 LD 3.9 km/s
2160-08-07 12:05:00 Juptr 1.2854 AU 500.2 LD 3.9 km/s
2172-07-07 08:09:00 Juptr 1.2782 AU 497.5 LD 3.9 km/s
2184-06-04 02:03:00 Juptr 1.2796 AU 498.0 LD 3.9 km/s
2196-04-29 02:03:00 Juptr 1.2789 AU 497.7 LD 3.9 km/s

Next ten from today. 1 lunar distance = 384,400 km. Source: JPL close-approach data.

Sources