Gaia Discovers Hundreds of New Asteroid Moons
The European Space Agency's Gaia mission has identified 352 potential moons orbiting over 350 previously unrecognized binary asteroids. This discovery, if confirmed, would nearly double the known number of asteroids with moons. Gaia had previously focused on asteroids known to have moons, but this new effort demonstrates the mission's capability to conduct 'blind' searches and uncover completely new binary candidates.
The findings, led by Luana Liberato of the Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur, highlight the advanced data quality and scientific potential of the Gaia mission. In addition to identifying potential moons, Gaia's observations provide valuable insights into the asteroids' chemistry through reflectance spectra, revealing information about their color and composition. This discovery underscores the progress in our understanding of binary asteroids and sets the stage for future missions like ESA's Hera, which will further explore these celestial bodies following NASA's DART mission.
