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  • Gaia spots possible moons around hundreds of asteroids

Gaia spots possible moons around hundreds of asteroids

Written by  Thursday, 08 August 2024 06:00
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ESA’s star-surveying Gaia mission has again proven to be a formidable asteroid explorer, spotting potential moons around more than 350 asteroids not known to have a companion.

An outstanding asteroid explorer

Asteroids in Gaia data release 3
Asteroids in Gaia data release 3

Asteroids are fascinating objects, and hold unique insights into the formation and evolution of the Solar System. Binaries are even more exciting, enabling us to study how different bodies form, collide and interact in space.

Thanks to its unique all-sky scanning capabilities, Gaia has made a number of important asteroid discoveries since its launch in 2013.

In its data release 3, Gaia precisely pinpointed the positions and motions of 150 000+ asteroids — so precisely that scientists could dig deeper and hunt for asteroids displaying the characteristic ‘wobble’ caused by the tug of an orbiting companion (the same mechanism as displayed here for a binary star). Gaia also gathered data on asteroid chemistry, compiling the largest ever collection of asteroid ‘reflectance spectra’ (light curves that reveal an object’s colour and composition).


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