Dactyl - Galileo

Raw image of Dactyl, moon of asteroid 243 Ida

Dactyl
Galileo image of Dactyl, the small moon orbiting asteroid 243 Ida. It is not known whether Dactyl was a piece of Ida kicked into orbit by a collision or an unrelated object captured into orbit. This clear-filter image was taken from 4000 km 4 minutes before closest approach, which took place on 28 August 1993 at 16:52 UT (12:52 EDT). This frame is roughly 32 km from top to bottom, and Ida measures about 1.2 x 1.4 x 1.6 km. (Galileo, 02025622.78)

Asteroid
Ida
Galileo Mission
Satellites: Natural