Discovery of the triple asteroidal system 87 Sylvia

Franck Marchis (), Pascal Descamps, Daniel Hestroffer and Jérome Berthier
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Franck Marchis: University of California at Berkeley
Pascal Descamps: Institut de Mécanique Céleste et Calculs d'Éphémérides, Observatoire de Paris
Daniel Hestroffer: Institut de Mécanique Céleste et Calculs d'Éphémérides, Observatoire de Paris
Jérome Berthier: Institut de Mécanique Céleste et Calculs d'Éphémérides, Observatoire de Paris

Nature, 2005, vol. 436, issue 7052, 822-824

Abstract: Asteroids: three's company The first binary asteroid was discovered in August 1993 when the Jupiter-bound Galileo spacecraft encountered the main-belt asteroid Dactyl and spotted its satellite Ida. Since then, binary asteroids have been found throughout the Solar System. Now the discovery of the first multiple asteroidal system is reported: the main-belt asteroid 87 Sylvia, about 300 km in diameter, is orbited by two moonlets, each about 10 km in diameter. The similarity of their orbits suggests that they formed at the same time as 87 Sylvia, perhaps as a result of the break-up of a parent asteroid.

Date: 2005
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DOI: 10.1038/nature04018

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