A team of researchers from Thailand and France have discovered the first known quadruple asteroid system-an asteroid with not one and not two, but three moons.
- They spotted a third moon orbiting the main-belt asteroid Elektra, moving the object into the record books.
- Most asteroids are solo travelers, but some are gravitationally bound in pairs – usually with one small object orbiting a larger one
- But this time triple asteroid systems was discovered, with two moons orbiting a bigger primary body.
- The asteroid Elektra, orbiting the Sun in the outer region of the main asteroid belt, was first discovered in 1873.
- Its first moon was spotted in 2003 orbiting around it every five days, at a distance of about 1,300 km. Moon number two turned up in 2014 orbiting 500 km from Elektra every 1.2 days.
- Now a third moon has been discovered, making Elektra a quadruple asteroid system. This new moon measures just 1.6 km wide, orbiting the main body every 16 hours at a distance of 344 km.
- While the other two moons orbit in roughly circular paths, the third follows an eccentric, egg-shaped orbit.
GS TIMES UPSC PRELIMS & MAINS CURRENT AFFAIRS BASED BASICS DAILY ONLINE TEST CLICK HERE
CLICK HERE DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS QUIZ FOR STATE CIVIL SERVICES
