Ida and Dactyl: Asteroid and Moon
Explanation:
This asteroid has a moon.
The
robot spacecraft Galileo
enroute to explore the
Jovian system in 1993,
encountered and photographed two
asteroids during its long interplanetary voyage.
The second minor planet it photographed,
243 Ida,
was discovered to have a moon.
The tiny moon,
named Dactyl,
is only about 1.6 kilometers across and seen as a
small dot to the right
in the image.
In contrast, Ida is much larger,
measuring about 60 kilometers long and 25 km wide.
In fact,
Dactyl is the
first moon of an asteroid ever discovered.
But now many asteroids
are known to have moons.
Minor planet names
Ida and Dactyl were taken from
Greek mythology.
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.
