As per a latest study of asteroid 4179 Toutatis, the large asteroid that goes pass Earth in every four years is a collection of rocky remains that are held together by gravity. For the next time, it will pass through earth in the year 2016.

The researchers wrote in a paper in Scientific Reports, "We may conclude that Toutatis is not a monolith, but most likely a coalescence of shattered fragments".

The study is published on Thursday and is based on the pictures of the asteroid that are gathered by the Chinese space probe Chang'e-2. The main task of Chang'e-2 was to study the moon in 2011. After completing this task, Last December, Chang'e-2 was positioned to take pictures of Toutatis just after the asteroid made a close approach to Earth.

On December 13, 2012, Chang'e-2 flew within half a mile of the plummeting Toutatis and collected one image in every 0.2 seconds. The photo shoot lasted for just 25 minutes. By the end, the spacecraft was able to send 400 images of the asteroid back to Earth. Such images were not collected before and were one of the most detailed images.

In December 2012, Chang'e-2 completed a flyby of 4179 Toutatis at distances near to 770 meters. The high-resolution pictures presented a number of latest discoveries regarding the asteroid. It is reported by the Chang'e-2 mission team of China's Lunar Exploration Program.