MSNBC reported yesterday that an asteroid will be named after late author Douglas Adams, author and all around amazing human being. And it seems that the naming was pre-destined.
One prospect stood out: an asteroid given the provisional designation 2001 DA42, discovered by the Lincoln Near Earth Asteroid Research project, or LINEAR. It*s a relatively unremarkable space rock, orbiting 224 million miles (358 million kilometers) from the sun in the main asteroid belt, between Mars and Jupiter. But its name held triple significance.
Not only did it memorialize the year of Adams* death (2001) and his initials (DA), but it also referenced the number 42 — which is absurdly meaningful in the “Hitchhiker” saga as the “answer to the Ultimate Question.” (The problem was, no one ever knew precisely what the Ultimate Question was.)
We proposed the name to Brian Marsden, the Minor Planet Center*s director and the secretary for the naming committee — and Marsden was tickled by the idea. “This was sort of made for him, wasn*t it?” he recalled Tuesday.
It makes me feel better to know that, even symbolicly, Adams is trapsing through the vast vacuum. I*m sure he has his towel.
