The Moons of Asteroid Kleopatra
February 24th, 2011
An image of the 217 kilometer long asteroid Kleopatra, discovered in 1880, taken by the Keck II telescope with adaptive optics, before (left) and after processing. The asteroid, shaped like a dog bone, has two moons, the outer Alexhelios and the inner Cleoselene.The asteroid Kleopatra, like its namesake, the last pharaoh and queen of Egypt, gave birth to twins – two moons probably spawned by the asteroid sometime in the past 100 million years.
Categories: News and Articles