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Discoveries > Asteroids VIII

SATELLITES OF ASTEROIDS : 

(243) IDA



 
Credit : NASA
Ida and Dactyl (right) observed in August 1993 by the spacecraft Galileo.


The shape and environment of asteroids have been observed through the occultation of stars by these asteroids. 
Interruptions of the light flux, unexpected, have left thinking the existence of satellites orbiting asteroids such as Lucina or Herculina.  


The Galileo spacecraft has confirmed the existence of such satellites observing Dactyl, a satellite of the asteroid Ida.