Figure 15-11: R I V U X G
An Asteroid with Two Satellites Although it is only about 280 km across, the potato-shaped asteroid 87 Sylvia has two satellites of its own. The outer satellite, Romulus, is 18 km across; the inner satellite, Remus, is just 7 km across. This image is actually a composite of nine observations made with the adaptive optics system at the Yepun telescope of the European Southern Observatory (see Figure 6-17).
An Asteroid with Two Satellites Although it is only about 280 km across, the potato-shaped asteroid 87 Sylvia has two satellites of its own. The outer satellite, Romulus, is 18 km across; the inner satellite, Remus, is just 7 km across. This image is actually a composite of nine observations made with the adaptive optics system at the Yepun telescope of the European Southern Observatory (see Figure 6-17).
(F. Marchis, U. of California; P. Descamps, D. Hestroffer, and J. Berthier, Observatoire de Paris; and ESO)