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Astronomy Picture of the Day - Ida and Dactyl: Asteroid and Moon
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod ^
| 28 May, 2023
| Image Credit: NASA, JPL, Galileo Mission
Posted on 05/28/2023 3:41:40 PM PDT by MtnClimber
Explanation: This asteroid has a moon. The robot spacecraft Galileo on route to Jupiter in 1993 encountered and photographed two asteroids during its long interplanetary voyage. The second minor planet it photographed, 243 Ida, was unexpectedly discovered to have a moon. The tiny moon, Dactyl, is only about 1.6 kilometers across and seen as a small dot on the right of the sharpened featured image. In contrast, the potato-shaped Ida is much larger, measuring about 60 kilometers long and 25 km wide. Dactyl is the first moon of an asteroid ever discovered -- now many asteroids are known to have moons. The names Ida and Dactyl are from Greek mythology.
TOPICS: Astronomy; Astronomy Picture of the Day; Science
KEYWORDS: asteroid; asteroids; astronomy; dactyl; ida; nasa; science
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To: MtnClimber
2
posted on
05/28/2023 3:42:07 PM PDT
by
MtnClimber
(For photos of Colorado scenery and wildlife, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
To: 21stCenturion; 21twelve; 4everontheRight; abb; AFB-XYZ; AFPhys; Agatsu77; America_Right; ...
Pinging the APOD list.
🪐 🌟 🌌 🍔
3
posted on
05/28/2023 3:42:57 PM PDT
by
MtnClimber
(For photos of Colorado scenery and wildlife, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
To: MtnClimber
Daktylos is the Greek word for "finger." It's also used for a metrical foot (dactyl) which has one long and two short syllables (just as the finger has one longer bone and two shorter bones). Dactylic hexameter is characteristic of Greek epic poetry (such as the Homeric poems) where the dactyl is the most common foot and each line has six feet.
To: MtnClimber
Gigantic potatoes in space!! Bring out the frying oil!!!
To: MtnClimber
Makes you wonder whatever happened to the planet these rocks came from..................
6
posted on
05/30/2023 5:56:29 AM PDT
by
Red Badger
(Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegal aliens are put up in hotels.....................)
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