Ida and Dactyl in enhanced color

Filed under pretty pictures, global views, many worlds, asteroids, asteroid 243 Ida and Dactyl, Galileo

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Galileo captured this image of asteroid Ida and its moon Dactyl about 14 minutes before its closest approach on August 28, 1993.

NASA / JPL

The range from the spacecraft was about 10,500 kilometers (6,500 miles). This was from the imaging sequence that produced the discovery of Dactyl. The color is based on violet and infrared filters; it represents actual variations on the surface of Ida, but has little relationship to the colors that human eyes would see.

Original image data dated on or about August 28, 1993