Today’s Astronomy Picture of the Day gives us the great picture to the left of Asteroid Itokawa taken by the currently status-unknown Japanese probe Hayabusa. This picture is simply astounding because it is completely unlike any picture of an asteroid, moon, or planet we’ve seen so far. It totally lacks craters, first of all. This must mean either whatever hits it merely knocks a bunch of rocks around which subsequently reorganize themselves, or that there is some dust layer that somehow moves everything about.
Personally, I think that it looks like two separate asteroids that collided very slowly, resulting in a bit of crushed rocks and debris, but leaving the two parent bodies largely intact. Anyway, whatever it is, hopefully Hayabusa will return to functionality and enlighten us all!
