Minor Planet Satellites - Asteroid Satellites, Trans-Neptunian Satellites, Minor Planet Moon, Provisional Designation in Astronomy, Linus, Remus (Paperback)

Purchase includes free access to book updates online and a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Chapters: Asteroid Satellites, Trans-Neptunian Satellites, Minor Planet Moon, Provisional Designation in Astronomy, Linus, Remus, Romulus, Petit-Prince, S/2000 1, 88611 Teharonhiawako, Weywot, Moonlet, Collisional Family. Excerpt: A minor-planet moon is an astronomical body that orbits a minor planet as its natural satellite. It is thought that many asteroids and Kuiper belt objects may possess moons, in some cases quite substantial in size. Discoveries of minor planet moons (and binary objects, in general) are important because the determination of their orbits provides estimates on the mass and density of the primary, allowing insights of their physical properties that is generally not otherwise possible. As of October 2009, there are 180 minor planets known to have moon(s). In addition to the terms satellite and moon, the term binary is sometimes used for minor planets with moons (or triple for minor planets with two moons). If one object is much bigger it is usually referred to as the primary and its companion as secondary. The term double asteroid is sometimes used for systems in which the asteroid and its moon are roughly the same size, while binary tends to be used independently from the relative sizes of the components. When binary minor planets are similar in size, the Minor Planet Center (MPe refers to them as "binary companions" instead of referring to the smaller body as a satellite. A good example of a true binary companion is the 90 Antiope system, discovered in August 2000. Small satellites are often referred to as moonlets. As of October 2009, 190 minor planet moons had been discovered, 67 in the main asteroid belt (5 with two satellites), 4 Jupiter Trojans, 37 to 41 near-Earth objects and 9 Mars-crossers. There are also 63 known moon... More: http://booksllc.net/?id=212598