(4)
Friday's first hour guest, reporter and editor Linda Moulton Howe of Earthfiles.com(1) presented a report on asteroid 4179 Toutatis, which is going to pass close to Earth on September 29, 2004. Linda described Toutatis as a large asteroid, measuring 4.6 km long by 2.4 km wide, in a chaotic orbit that crosses Earth's own orbit. According to asteroid specialist Tim Spahr, "there is no chance" of Toutatis coming close enough to impact Earth. Spahr said within 10 years astronomers will have found more than 95% of the one kilometer near-Earth asteroids, and they'll know exactly where each will be for the next 100 years. Earthfiles.com(2)//-->
Linda also discussed the adverse affects of global warming on plants and animals. She said recent European and American studies have concluded that the average temperatures in Europe could climb between 3.6° and 11.3° Fahrenheit by the end of this century. According to ornithologist Jeff Price, the small amount of warming that has already occurred globally has impacted the kittiwakes gull population, and will eventually cause "many extinctions among birds, mammals, reptiles, and amphibians." Earthfiles.com(3).//-->
During the second hour, Linda stayed on to field calls, and provided updates on Dr. Formisano and Dan Burisch. Concerning Burisch, Linda says the deeper she probes into the story, the stranger it becomes. Nonetheless, Linda maintains "there is nobody that can prove that Dan Burisch was not at Area 51." Read more about Dan Burisch here.

1. http://www.earthfiles.com/
2. http://www.earthfiles.com/news/news.cfm?ID=777&category=Science
3. http://www.earthfiles.com/news/news.cfm?ID=776&category=Environment
4. http://www.earthfiles.com/

Toutatis Orbit Viewer

Asteroid 4179 was discovered by C. Pollas on January 4, 1989, at Caussols, France. The discoverers named the asteroid after a Celtic god, Toutatis. Its eccentric, four-year orbit extends from just inside Earth's orbit to the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. The plane of Toutatis' orbit is closer to the plane of Earth's orbit than any known Earth-orbit-crossing asteroid.
Using OrbitViewer, an interactive Java applet that displays the orbit of asteroids in our solar system in 3D, you can watch as Toutatis approaches Earth. The orbit of Toutatis can be played forwards or backwards like a movie. NOTE: OrbitViewer applet may take a few moments to load.
OrbitViewer applet created by Osamu Ajiki(1) (AstroArts Inc.) in 1996; modified by Ron Baalke (NASA/JPL) in 2000-2001.

1. http://www.astroarts.com/home/osam-a/index.html

Bumper Music

Bumper music from Friday August 27, 2004