Number 142 (Story #2), September 1, 1993 by Phillip F. Schewe and Ben Stein IDA, A 20-MILE WIDE ASTEROID , was photographed from only 1500 miles away by the Galileo spacecraft on its way toward Jupiter. This was only the second encounter between an asteroid and a spaceprobe; the first was Galileo's 1991 flyby of the asteroid Gaspra. Galileo's antenna problem, which will diminish operations during its Jupiter-observing mission, also slows down the process of sending back pictures of Ida, which will be available in about a month. (AP in the Washington Post, 29 August.)