1509 Esclangona
Encyclopedia
1509 Esclangona is a small inner main belt asteroid
Asteroid
Asteroids are a class of small Solar System bodies in orbit around the Sun. They have also been called planetoids, especially the larger ones...

 discovered on December 21, 1938 by André Patry
André Patry
André Patry was a French astronomer.Patry was orphaned at a young age, and began working at the Observatoire de Nice aged 17. He studied asteroids and discovered several himself. The Asteroid 1601 Patry is named after him.-Obituary:*...

 from Nice, France. It is a member of the Hungaria family
Hungaria family
The Hungaria asteroids are a group of asteroids in the asteroid belt that orbit the Sun between 1.78 and 2.00 AU. The asteroids typically have a low eccentricity and an inclination of 16 to 34 degrees....

. Its provisional designation was 1938 YG. It measures 12 km in diameter
Diameter
In geometry, a diameter of a circle is any straight line segment that passes through the center of the circle and whose endpoints are on the circle. The diameters are the longest chords of the circle...

. It is named after Ernest Esclangon
Ernest Esclangon
Ernest Benjamin Esclangon was a French astronomer and mathematician.Born in Mison, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, in 1895 he started to study mathematics at the École Normale Supérieure, graduating in 1898...

, a French astronomer.

Esclangona has a small moon
Asteroid moon
A minor planet moon is an astronomical body that orbits a minor planet as its natural satellite. It is thought that many asteroids and Kuiper belt objects may possess moons, in some cases quite substantial in size...

, provisionally named S/2003 (1509) 1, which measures 4 km in diameter, and orbits 140 km from its parent. This wide separation relative to the pair's size is rather unusual and it is believed that both Esclangona and its moon are ejecta
Ejecta
Ejecta can mean:*In volcanology, particles that came out of a volcanic vent, traveled through the air or under water, and fell back on the ground surface or on the ocean floor...

 from an asteroidal collision in the past that left the scene as a co-orbiting pair; a similar pairing is 3749 Balam
3749 Balam
3749 Balam is an asteroid orbiting the Sun. It is named after the Canadian astronomer David D. Balam.- Satellite system :A satellite, designated S/2002 1, was discovered by William J. Merline, Laird M. Close, Nick Siegler, Christophe Dumas, Clark R. Chapman, François J. Rigaut, François Ménard,...

and its moon http://www.aas.org/publications/baas/v35n4/dps2003/495.htm.
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