Astronomy Picture of the Day 6-30-02

NASA ^ | 6-30-02 | Robert Nemiroff and Jerry Bonnell

[petuniasevan]

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2002 June 30

Ida and Dactyl: Asteroid and Moon
Credit: Galileo Project, JPL, NASA

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.

[petuniasevan]

Remember this? Spacecraft Galileo imaged this pair on August 28, 1993.

The now-crippled but still functioning Galileo is presently orbiting Jupiter, and is scheduled for a final dive into the Red Planet's atmosphere in September 2003. It has exceeded all expectations for discoveries, data, and performance under high-radiation conditions. This taxpayer got her money's worth!

Get on the APOD PING list!

[petuniasevan]

APOD PING!

[RightWhale]

The smaller one would be just the right size for mining.

[sleavelessinseattle]

RW...It seems like it ought to be possible to create a Giant Solar reflector and Just MELT an asteroid in place...And then scoop up the different levels of molten metals and minerals by their position in the molten core.Heaviest in the center and then progressively lighter...like an Everlasting Gobstopper of metals!...You could use a ceramic soda straw to pierce the blob of magma to the right depth and just suck up the target molten product...or "freeze it onto the probe by pumping gas or water into the space to cool the magma into solid form...like dipping a candle....He stuck in his thumb and pulled out Plumbium and Said Oh what a good boy am I!!!

[RightWhale]

Yeah, well that's the right idea. Implementation will be a little different, but solar power will be the power source and the materials will be sorted. No time to wait for gravity sorting on such a small body.

[wafflehouse]

wow.. pretty neat..