The Electra asteroid was discovered between Mars and Jupiter in 1873. Its first lunar discovery was made in 2003, 130 years after the discovery of Electra; The second is in 2014. The third discovery was published in 2022.
Scientists gave good news in space research. For the first time, scientists have found three moons or satellites on an asteroid in the solar system. The 130-electra asteroid is located between the planets between Mars and Jupiter.
A team of scientists led by Anthony Bardeu of the National Astronomical Research Institute in Thailand wrote about the asteroid in their research paper – Electra is the first four-way system to be identified. For the first time, asteroids with three moons or satellites have been found, they said. Its position in the asteroid constellation between Mars and Jupiter.
According to The Astrophysical Journal Letters, there is talk of this asteroid of three moons. Electra asteroids were discovered in 1873. Its first lunar discovery was made in 2003, 130 years after the discovery of Electra; The second is in 2014. However, there are reasons why it takes time to find asteroid satellites. Asteroids are smaller in size and more self-illuminated by starlight. So satellites orbiting the asteroid emit relatively little light. That is why it is not easy to identify asteroid satellites or moons. ScienceAlert reports that Bardou’s team has enlisted the help of the European Southern Observatory’s largest telescope in search of a new moon. Scientists take information from the space share of the telescope. Then he separates the unnecessary material (noise) with a device. This process started in 2014. The observation lasted for seven consecutive years. During this time, scientists have seen the new moon 120 times in 22 days. LScientists have named the new moon after the previous two. The third one has been named S / 2014 (130) 2. The name of the first discovered moon is S / 2003 (130) 1 and the name of the second is S / 2014 (130) 1. S / 2003 (130) 1 has a diameter of six kilometers. It is orbiting Electra from a distance of about 1,300 kilometers. RS / 2014 (130) 1 Two kilometers in diameter. Its average distance in orbit is 500 kilometers. The newly discovered moon S / 2014 (130) 2 has a diameter of 1.6 km. The average distance of the orbit is 340 km. Scientists have so far found more than 1.1 million asteroids in space. Of these, more than 150 have at least one moon.