On this day in space! Aug. 28, 1993: Galileo spacecraft flies by asteroid Ida on the way to Jupiter only to find a tiny moon!
On Aug. 28, 1993, NASA's Galileo spacecraft flew by the asteroid Ida on its way to Jupiter. Here's why it mattered.
On August 28, 1993, NASA's Galileo spacecraft passed by the asteroid Ida on its journey to Jupiter. This was the first time a spacecraft had visited an asteroid in the asteroid belt. Previously, the spacecraft had already flown by the asteroid Gaspra in 1991. During the flyby, Galileo not only captured images of Ida but also discovered a small moon orbiting Ida - the first confirmed satellite of an asteroid ever found.
The moon was named Dactyl, after a group of mythological beings living on the sacred Mount Ida. Galileo's discovery confirmed that some asteroids might have moons, a theory that had been suspected but not proven until now. The encounter occurred at a speed of almost 28,000 miles per hour, with Galileo coming within 1,500 miles of Ida's surface.
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