Ida and Dactyl: Asteroid and Moon
Explanation:
This asteroid has a moon!
The
robot spacecraft Galileo
currently exploring the Jovian system, encountered and
photographed two
asteroids
during its long journey to
Jupiter.
The second asteroid it photographed,
Ida, was discovered to have
a moon which appears as a small dot to the right of Ida in
this picture.
The tiny moon, named Dactyl, is about one mile across, while
the potato shaped Ida measures about 36 miles long and 14 miles wide.
Dactyl is the first moon of an asteroid ever discovered.
The names Ida and Dactyl are based on characters in
Greek mythology.
Other asteroids are now known to
have moons.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
