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The Asteroid Ida - Facts, Information, & Pictures
Asteroids are small solar system bodies (small compared to planets) that orbit the Sun, often in unusual and elliptic orbits.  Asteroid Ida was visited by the Galileo spacecraft in 1991, which took some great photographs.  Much to astronomers' surprise, one photograph showed that the asteroid Ida  has it's own Moon, Dactyl.  Ida is a pretty large asteroid at 52 km wide.

 
length   (km) 52
Mass (kg) 4.2×1016
Orbital Period 4.84 yrs
Spectral Class S
Semimajor Axis 2.861 AU
Orbital Eccentricity 0.0046
Orbital Inclination 1.138 deg
Ida
 Picture of Asteroid Ida


Dactyl
Image of
Ida's Moon, Dactyl

 

 



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