Although asteroid 4179 Toutatis will come no closer than four times the distance between the Earth and the moon, this will be the closest approach of any known asteroid of comparable size this century.
Chang'e-2 had gone past the moon after completing its mission and flew by the asteroid Toutatis on December 13, which the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence (SASTIND) claimed was the first time a space ship flew by the asteroid, named after a Celtic God.
Toutatis is about 2.9 miles long and 1.5 miles wide (4.6X2.4 kilometres). It looks something like a dumbbell hurtling awkwardly through space. It has a crazy rotation that makes normal days impossible.
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