Overview
- The research team released an arXiv preprint on July 30, 2026, reporting high-contrast images from LBT's SHARK-VIS and VLT's SPHERE/ZIMPOL that were combined with global photometry to build a 3D model of Nysa.
- The images show Nysa as an unusual trilobate object with two deep, wraparound valleys that the team interprets as necks joining three lobes, making it a candidate contact trinary.
- Observers independently detected a small moon, designated S/2026 (44) 1, in two separate campaigns; the satellite is roughly 1 km wide and orbits at least about 170 km from the 75 km-wide primary.
- The immediate next step is repeated orbital monitoring of the moon to measure its period and velocity, which will let astronomers calculate Nysa's mass and bulk density and then test the low-velocity reaccumulation versus collisional-deformation hypotheses.
- Because Nysa is a bright E-type asteroid rich in enstatite, confirming its shape and density will shed light on inner‑solar‑system planetesimals and on how modern high-contrast adaptive-optics imaging can reveal faint companions around bright primaries.