The piece was commissioned by the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra for Simon Rattle`s project `Ad astra` which was conceived as a contemporary complement to Holst`s suite `The Planets`.
The real-life asteroid 4179 Tautatis served as a source of inspiration. Saariaho was intrigued by its unusual elongated shape resembling a peanut and its chaotic rotation which means the object has no fixed poles or regular day/night cycle.

This piece is frequently performed and recorded along with other `asteroids` written for the same project by Matthias Pintscher Mark-Anthony Turnage and Brett Dean.