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The binary nature of 243 Ida was discovered when the Galileo spacecraft flew by the asteroid in 1993. Since then numerous binary asteroids and several triple asteroids have been detected. [1] The mass ratio of the two components – called the "primary" and "secondary" of a binary system – is an important characteristic.
65803 Didymos (provisional designation 1996 GT) is a sub-kilometer asteroid and binary system that is classified as a potentially hazardous asteroid and near-Earth object of the Apollo group. [ a ] The asteroid was discovered in 1996 by the Spacewatch survey at Kitt Peak , and its small 160-meter minor-planet moon , named Dimorphos , was ...
Together, Dinkinesh and Selam form a binary asteroid system. Dinkinesh is the second binary main-belt asteroid explored by spacecraft, after 243 Ida by Galileo in 1993. The Dinkinesh binary system resembles the 65803 Didymos near-Earth asteroid binary system in size and composition, but differs in location from the Sun, which allows scientists ...
"The images and data that DART collected at the Didymos system provided a unique opportunity for a close-up geological look of a near-Earth asteroid binary system," Dr. Oliver Barnouin, a ...
The DART data has improved the understanding of binary asteroid systems. "Binary asteroid systems represent about 10-15% of the total number of asteroids that are in near-Earth space," Barnouin said.
Dimorphos (formal designation (65803) Didymos I; provisional designation S/2003 (65803) 1) is a natural satellite or moon of the near-Earth asteroid 65803 Didymos, with which it forms a binary system. The moon was discovered on 20 November 2003 by Petr Pravec in collaboration with other astronomers worldwide.
The existence of contact binary asteroids was first speculated by planetary scientist Allan F. Cook in 1971, who sought for potential explanations for the extremely elongated shape of the Jupiter trojan asteroid 624 Hektor, whose longest axis measures roughly 300 km (190 mi) across and is twice as long as its shorter axes according to light curve measurements. [2]
These observations also confirmed that Johnson is a binary system, giving a concurring orbital period of 21.78 to 21.797 hours for the satellite. [13] [14] [15] [b] For an asteroid of its size, Johnson has a somewhat fast spin rate, but still significantly above those of fast rotators. CALL adopts a rotation period of 3.7824 hours with an ...