144k views
5 votes
Eros is an asteroid, photographed by the Galileo mission that has its own satellite named Dactyl

True or false

User TravisO
by
7.7k points

1 Answer

1 vote

Final answer:

Eros does not have a satellite named Dactyl; it is the asteroid Ida that has a tiny moon by that name, discovered by the Galileo spacecraft. Eros was instead studied by the NEAR-Shoemaker spacecraft.

Step-by-step explanation:

The statement that Eros is an asteroid with its own satellite named Dactyl is false. It was actually the asteroid Ida that was photographed by the Galileo spacecraft in 1993, and found to have a tiny moon named Dactyl.

The Galileo spacecraft's encounter with Ida provided important data, allowing scientists to measure Ida's mass and density using Kepler's laws. This discovery marked the first time a moon was found orbiting an asteroid. In contrast, Eros was studied by the NEAR-Shoemaker spacecraft, which orbited the asteroid and mapped it extensively, showing that Eros is made of chemically primitive materials and is a solid rock with a uniform density.

User Peter Jacobs
by
7.9k points