Ida was the second asteroid to be observed close-up by a spacecraft, when the Space Probe Galileo took pictures as it flew by on Aug 28, 1993. These pictures showed not only that Ida has a cratered surface, but also that it has a small moon, called Dactyl, which is about 1.6 x 1.2 km in diameter and orbiting 90 km away from the asteroid.

On the 1st of November of 2021, I joined Hans the Netherlander at his table in the cafe. The day after Halloween was rainy outside. Whilst I was drinking iced green tea, Hans gave me a piece of brown candy. He took out a jar of peanuts and offered me, but I said that I get pimples from peanuts. As a child in Quezon City, my family had a peanut farm near our lot; we boiled them, and I ate, as I was not allergic as a prepubescent. We then talked all about astronomy: exoplanets, asteroids, and the moons of the gas giants. Titan, a moon of Saturn, is specially stunning with its black methanic rivers, lakes, and seas. Hans said that the next fifty years will be exciting for astronomy. As we talked, a big handsome man with a muscular build came in, ordered coffee, and left.

Wil Santiago, an engineer at Lockheed Martin Space, told NASA TV, "It's like going back in time. These asteroids are time capsules."

NASA wants to corral an asteroid.

These space rocks orbit the Sun in a large, circular region called the asteroid belt.

The asteroids capable of causing a global disaster if they hit the Earth are extremely rare.

Astronomers think that if it were not for the giant planet Jupiter exerting its gravitational force on the asteroids in the belt, the inner planets would be constantly bombarded by large asteroids.

An asteroid just over two kilometers wide will pass close to earth Wednesday.

Every year in December, the Earth passes through the debris of ice and rock from the asteroid, which, upon contacting the earth’s atmosphere, burn up and leave a streak across the sky.

Studying the sample from Bennu could reveal major insights about the formation and nature of the solar system, asteroids, and other small celestial bodies.