JAXA is mapping the asteroid Itokawa. They have many images from many angles, though they are not releasing any just yet. No, they aren’t keeping them secret, they are calibrating them.

Naturally, maps are much more useful if there are names to identify features. JAXA has proposed names of some of the terrain on Itokawa.

From JAXA:

The IAU guideline says that terrain larger than about 100 meters shall have the names of gods, internationally well known places with significance to be approved. Hayabusa project team proposes following names for the major features on Itokawa. Smaller terrain will be given names based on the nicknames referred to by the Joint Science Team analysts.

Proposed names and the reasons:

Muses Sea: is the smooth terrain and stands for ‘MUSES-C’, the project code of Hayabusa, at the same time, named after the expanse where the Greek goddesses Muses are.

Uchinoura Bay: is a potential crater on Itokawa, named after the mother port (launch site) of Hayabusa in Kyushu island, Japan.

Woomera Desert: is also a potential large crater on Itokawa, named after the intended recovery area of Hayabusa-carried capsule with sample, Woomera Prohibited Area (WPA) in Australia, the return port of Hayabusa.

Hayabusa is now just 8 km from the asteroid.

I know the colors are off a little…

Source: JAXA

UPDATE:Things are not going well for Hayabusa, see Stuart’s post.