Slashdot Mirror
Weird Asteroid Itokawa Has a Dual Personality
astroengine writes "We care about how asteroids are made, in large part because if one were aiming to smash into us, we'd like to know what we can do about it. The structure of asteroids is also a matter of scientific curiosity, as it tells us a bit about the formation and evolution in our solar system. ... 25143 Itokawa is a relatively small near-Earth asteroid that was visited by the Japanese Habayusa spacecraft in 2005. It has also been monitored by Stephen Lowry of the University of Kent and his colleagues over a twelve year span with the 3.58 meter New Technology Telescope in La Silla, Chile. In that time span, Itokawa has made five near approaches to Earth. And what did they find? The asteroid is composed of two lobes of different densities, suggesting that Itokawa is in fact a merged binary."
ESO is hosting a preprint of the paper.
It's the Hayabusa, not Habayusa... Thank you and good bye.
If you move me to the beta slashdot abortion i'll add this place to the block list and never visit again.
Too many other news sites regurgitate the exact same storys i see here. And all of them don't look as shitty as the beta slashdot.
Stop being stupid.
I had never seen the Beta site, so I was curious what all the fuss was about; it couldn't be that bad! I clicked the beta link, and now I can't get OUT! There's no un-beta link, and I'm auto-redirected back to beta every time. What the actual fuck.
Everything is better with chainsaws.
Terrible, isn't it? Occasionally I get directed to it and keep reloading/pressing the back button until I don't.
The Slashdot Beta is fucking terrible, and has gone the route of Way Too Much Whitespace and looks like shit.
Whatever drunken idiots think it's a good website should be flayed, castrated, and then shot.
Our marketing department has done extensive research over the last 3 quarters and discovered that our audience is strangely disproportionately skewed towards males. Like, 98.3% males to be precise. To correct this oversight, we have decided to subtly tweak Slashdot's design and content to widen our appeal to these less active demographics. Don't worry! We'll still continue to serve our core audience, but we hope you'll work with us as we try to find a balance that will work for all.
gee, that sounds strangely familiar...
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
It's not just this site which decided that usefulness should be jammed down the sewer in favor of shiny, take a look at NBC's redesigned site. It looks and acts like Windows 8!
Once again, Rule #3 that should never be broken:
Never let a web designer design your web site.
We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
There's a “Slashdot Classic” link in the footer.
For reference, it goes to http://slashdot.org/?nobeta=1
For everyone complaining about the beta format. They put a link right up on top of the pages now. Don't just post rants here (personally I doubt anyone in charge reads the comments here) send them emails telling them how much of an abomination it is.
feedback@slashdot.org?subject=beta_feedback
I think the correct definition would be dual properties comprised of different materials and densities. Other than that you better send like Risperdal or Prozac to the asteroid immediately and sign it up for a guest shot on Dr. Phil.
Harrison's Postulate - "For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism"
That motorcycles are now in space?
Harrison's Postulate - "For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism"
And I was even nice. After I pointed out why the best site is "teh suck" I offered helpful suggestions about the commenting layout, 'cause that's a whole lotta whitespace they've got in there.
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
Terrible, isn't it? Occasionally I get directed to it and keep reloading/pressing the back button until I don't.
The Slashdot Beta is fucking terrible, and has gone the route of Way Too Much Whitespace and looks like shit.
Whatever drunken idiots think it's a good website should be flayed, castrated, and then shot.
You're being far too kind. The auteur of the beta Slashdot design should be torn into itty-bitty pieces and buried alive. Count me in as another long-time slashdot reader who will be adding the site to Leechblock as soon as I can no longer access class Slashdot. And given the trend topics that have been making it to the top of the pile lately (with this one as a nice exception) I'm kind of wondering why I'm waiting...
I have no issues with Slashdot Beta's new design. It looks okay to me
It's one of the designers! Lynch him!
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
I find it a bit strange that the image is of 4 Vesta, a V-type asteroid. 25143 Itokawa is an S-type asteroid.
"If you have no enemies, you have no character" -- Paul Newman
There's no un-beta link
I must be imagining the big 'Slashdot Classic' link at the bottom of every page then.
No colour or religion ever stopped the bullet from a gun
It wasn't there for me. As I said in other posts, I apparently got an even worse version than usual - there was no sidebar or footer, so no Slashdot Classic link. All I could see was the header and the stories.
Everything is better with chainsaws.
No, not really. I mean, gosh, who cares.
Here's an alternate "theory" . The asteroid isn't made up of two merged blobs: it's going all cellular division on us and is in the process of asexual reproduction. This takes a long time, what with rock being somewhat stiffer than amoebas and all.
https://app.box.com/WitthoftResume Code: https://github.com/cellocgw
I don't think fire ants have any testicles on which to put honey.
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!