In 1993, the Galileo spacecraft discovered a tiny moon (Dactyl) orbiting the asteroid Ida. Astronomers have found many asteroids with a satellite or moon orbiting it. Moons orbit near-Earth asteroids, asteroid belt or main-belt asteroids, or Kuiper Belt objects.

Astronomers have discovered about 160 planets in other solar systems called extrasolar planets or exoplanets. Using the Spitzer Space Telescope’s infrared ability, a team of astronomers led by Charles Beichman of Caltech discovered warm dust indicating a dense asteroid belt, or exo-asteroid belt, in the constellation Puppis (the Deck) at the star designated as HD 69830.

The European Space Agency (ESA) has released data sent back from their space probe Huygen that landed on Saturn’s moon Titan. The first pictures of the surface of Titan reveal a frozen hilly landscape with channels or riverbeds carved by some liquid. A picture taken from 10 miles above the surface shows a large dark mass that appears to be a lake. Another picture shows large white chunks of boulders or blocks of water ice scattered in the foreground with a grey surface in the background. More data reveals a pale orange landscape with a spongy surface like wet sand or clay. Huygen space probe’s microphone has picked up a low, whooshing sound.