The asteroid Ida, with its moon, Dactyl. The image was taken by Galileo in 1993.
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Courtesy of NASA/JPL
Moon Found Orbiting Asteroid
News story originally written on October 11, 1999
Scientists found a satellite orbiting the asteroid, Eugenia. This is the second one ever! A special telescope allows scientists to look through Earth's atmosphere.
The first satellite found was Dactyl. It orbits the asteroid Ida. The Galileo spacecraft found Dactyl in 1993.
The new moon was hard to see because Eugenia is much brighter than its moon. Scientists use the moon to find Eugenia's density and mass.
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