Itokawa — asteroid, shown live in Cosmoscope, a real-time 3D map of the universe.
The sea-otter-shaped rubble pile that gave humanity its first asteroid sample, returned by Japan’s Hayabusa in 2010 after an against-all-odds journey home. Real Hayabusa shape model.
Cosmoscope puts Itokawa at its true position in the solar system, computed from JPL-derived ephemeris and updated continuously. Open the live 3D view to see, in real time, how far Itokawa is from the Sun and from Earth right now, how many minutes or hours light takes to cross that gap, and how fast it is moving along its orbit. Scrub the timeline to place Itokawa where it was on any past date, or where it will be years from now.