28E-40-Itokawa A Strange Space Peanut

The asteroid Itokawa [e toe kawa] is as odd as a barbell with a 29 lb weight on one end and and 18 lb weight on the other. It was discovered in 1998 as a moving point of light in the night sky by the LINEAR project in New Mexico. It was named for the Japanese scientist whose rockets put his nations first satellite in orbit in 1970.