Contact Binary Plus Moonlet
Hektor is one of the most elongated bodies of its size in the Solar System, being 370 × 200 km. It is thought that Hektor might be a contact binary (two asteroids joined by gravitational attraction) like 216 Kleopatra. Hubble Space Telescope observations of Hektor in 1993 did not show an obvious bilobate shape because of a limited angular resolution. On 17 July 2006, the Keck-10m II telescope and its Laser guide star Adaptive Optics (AO) system indicated a bilobate shape for Hektor. Additionally, a 15-km moonlet at 1000 km of Hektor was detected. The satellite's provisional designation is S/2006 (624) 1. Hektor is, so far, the only known binary trojan asteroid in the L4 point and the first trojan with a satellite companion. 617 Patroclus, another large trojan asteroid located in the L5, is composed of two same-sized components.
Read more about this topic: 624 Hektor
Famous quotes containing the word contact:
“It can be demonstrated that the child’s contact with the real world is strengthened by his periodic excursions into fantasy. It becomes easier to tolerate the frustrations of the real world and to accede to the demands of reality if one can restore himself at intervals in a world where the deepest wishes can achieve imaginary gratification.”
—Selma H. Fraiberg (20th century)