130 Elektra is a large asteroid located in the outer main-asteroid belt. It is 160 miles across on its longest side and completes an orbit of the Sun every five years.
130 Elektra: The First Quadruple Asteroid System
More than 150 asteroids have two moons but with the discovery of third moon of 130 Elektra, it has become the first quadruple asteroid system in the Solar System.
The discovery of third moon around Elektra was announced on November 6, 2021. It was discovered by Anthony Berdeu from the National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand and his colleagues using images from the Very Large Telescope in Chile to take a closer look at Elektra and they found third moon hidden inside the orbits of other two.
According to their research papers, this newly discovered moon is about 1.6 Km in diameter making it the smallest member of the system. First moon is the largest and outermost moon of Elektra. It is about 6 Km in diameter and completes its orbit around Elektra in 5.3 days. Second moon is 2 Km in diameter and completes its orbit in 1.3 days.
| Year of discovery | Designation | Diameter (in KM) | |
| First Moon | 2003 | S/2003 (130) 1 | 6 |
| Second Moon | 2014 | S/2014 (130) 1 | 2 |
| Third Moon | 2021 | S/2014 (130) 2 | 1.6 |
Origin
The moons have the same spectrum as that of Elektra which proves the hypothesis that these moons are the chunks of 130 Elektra that were broken off in a collision when another object smashed into the asteroid.