Asteroid Elektra having 3 moonlets becomes first-ever quadruple asteroid system: Report

Astronomers observing the asteroid 130 Elektra, or just Elektra have confirmed that the space rock is surrounded by not one or two but three moonlets. First discovered in the asteroid belt between Jupiter and Mars in 1873, the asteroid was initially thought to have two orbiting bodies. However, the latest confirmation has established it as the first-ever quadruple asteroid system, the astronomers noted in their study published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

Anthony Berdeu of the National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand, who led the research said as per Science Alert, "Elektra is the first quadruple system ever detected. This new detection shows that dedicated data reduction and processing algorithms modeling the physics of the instruments can push their contrast limits further".

(Image: ESO)

Elektra and its companions

The experts noted in their study that although asteroids with moonlets are not rare, spotting them is an extremely difficult task. Until now, just a little over 150 asteroids have been found to have smaller space rocks orbiting them among over 11,00,000 asteroids discovered so far. The asteroid belt is known to be full of unusual asteroids whose origins reveal the building blocks of the early terrestrial planets. 

As for Elektra, which measures around 260 kilometres across, its moonlets are named S/2003 (130) 1, S/2014 (130) 1 and the newly discovered S/2014 (130) 2. As the name suggests, the first two were discovered in 2003 and 2014, respectively. In terms of size, S/2003 (130) 1 is just six kilometres across and is circling Elektra at an average distance of around 1,300 kilometres. The second moonlet, on the other hand, is two kilometres across and is orbiting Elektra from a distance of 500 kilometres. 

Discovered using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (VLT), the new moonlet is the smallest, measuring just 1.6 kilometres across and is 15,000 times fainter than Elektra. "The discovery of the first quadruple asteroid system slightly opens the way for understanding the mechanisms of the formation of these satellites", the experts noted as per Science Alert. Moreover, they also believe that even more asteroid moons can be found using their methods of discovery. 

Image: Twitter/@ESO