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Asteroid Named After Douglas Adams

Posted by timothy on from the along-for-the-ride dept.

tc writes "MSNBC is reporting that an asteroid has been named after Douglas Adams of Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy fame. Fittingly, the asteroid carried the provisional designation 2001 DA42, thus commemorating the year of his untimely death, containing his initials, and incorporating the famous answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything. This seems like a fitting tribute to me."

4 of 314 comments (clear)

  1. Re:DNA42 by pa-ching · · Score: 5, Informative

    They didn't name it DA42 in the first place; they just happened to notice an asteroid having the provisional designation of 2001 DA42, if you read the summary correctly.

  2. Not just HHGTG... by timelady · · Score: 5, Informative

    DNA was not just an author of amazingly funny and insightful books, he wrote many stories for Doctor Who. So a space object appropriate in many ways, imho:)

    --
    Nothing - well thats something.
  3. Re:Enlighten me please.. by shreevatsa · · Score: 5, Informative
    Please. Don't mention base 13, it's not true and DNA didn't like it. From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Answer_to_Life,_t he_Universe,_and_Everything:
    However, it was later pointed out that 6 X 9 = 42 if the calculations are performed in base 13, not base 10. Douglas Adams was not aware of this at the time, and has since been quoted as saying that "nobody writes jokes in base 13." and also "I may be a pretty sad person, but I don't make jokes in base 13."
  4. Re:Perhaps a more fitting tribute? by evilmrhenry · · Score: 5, Informative

    Didn't someone name a new species of beetle after DNA a year or so ago?

    Googling turned up:
    Erechthias beeblebroxi Robinson & Nelson, 1993 (tineid) with a false head; after Zaphod Beeblebrox, two-headed character from Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

    From Here