The Most Interesting Moons in Our Solar System

Dactyl

The itsy-bitsy Dactyl was only discovered by happenstance; in 1993, NASA’s Galileo spacecraft swung by an asteroid named 243 Ida, and spotted a small moon orbiting the space rock.

Dactyl proved that asteroids could have moons, and thanks to Galileo, we have an image of the petite satellite, probably borne of the same collision of ancient objects that created Ida.

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An illustration showing two planets colliding as they orbit a main sequence star.

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Jupiter's turbulent moon, Io, captured during a close approach by NASA's Juno spacecraft on Dec. 30, 2023.

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An artist's concept of our solar system.

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