(243) Ida

Template: Infobox Asteroid / Maintenance / Error 1

(243 ) Ida is an asteroid of the main belt asteroid that was discovered on 29 September 1884 by Johann Palisa at the Vienna University Observatory.

The asteroid was named after the nymph Ida in Greek mythology.

Ida is a very irregularly shaped body. It has a bright, silicate- rich surface.

On 28 August 1993, the Galileo spacecraft passed through the asteroid at a distance of 10,500 miles and CCD images sent to Earth. The images show that the heavenly bodies of impact craters is covered. Large parts of the asteroids are of a dust layer, the regolith covered.

It has also been found that Ida is orbited by a small natural satellites. This just 1.4 km large moon was named Dactyl and was the first observed asteroid moon.

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