Thefirst look at the Dinkinesh asteroidrevealed a surprisal : The small space rock had its own moon . Now as the Lucy spacecraft downlinked more images of its first target , it showed not one but two midget asteroids orbiting around Dinkinesh .
NASA ’s Lucy deputation made a close flyby of the Dinkinesh asteroid on November 1 , conquer data about the rocky object in the main asteroid knock . As it turns out , this pocket-size little hombre was hiding a big secret : a tiny moonshine . But that ’s not the only surprise ; Dinkinesh is no ordinary binary system of rules — it host a satellite that ’s a link binary dwell of two smaller aim in direct contact , NASAannouncedon Tuesday . The surprisal space rocks are the first striking double star revolve asteroid to ever be observed .
“ impinging binary seem to be fairly mutual in the solar organization , ” John Spencer , Lucy deputy projection scientist at the Southwest Research Institute , said in a financial statement . “ We have n’t see many up - unaired , and we ’ve never see one orbiting another asteroid . ”
Asteroid Dinkinesh is the gift that keeps on giving, revealing not one but two satellites in its orbit.Image: NASA/Goddard/SwRI/Johns Hopkins APL
In the first image that Lucy downlinked to mission teams on the ground , the two lobes of the contact binary asteroid appeared as one from the spacecraft ’s point of vista . As the ballistic capsule flew further away from the asteroid organization , it became clear-cut that these were actually two space rock touching each other while in arena around Dinkinesh .
At its secretive approach path , Lucy captured its first set of images when it was around 265 naut mi ( 425 km ) away from the asteroid . Six minutes afterwards , the spacecraft captured its second Seth of images when it was at a distance of 1,010 miles ( 1,630 kilometre ) from the asteroid .
“ It is dumbfound , to say the least , ” Hal Levison , principal investigator for Lucy at the Southwest Research Institute , say in a statement . “ I would have never expected a system that looks like this . In particular , I do n’t sympathise why the two part of the satellite have similar sizing . This is go to be fun for the scientific community to figure out . ”
A diagram showing the trajectory of the Lucy spacecraft during its flyby of the asteroid Dinkinesh and its satellite.Illustration: Overall graphic, NASA/Goddard/SwRI; Inset “A,” NASA/Goddard/SwRI/Johns Hopkins APL/NOIRLab; Inset “B,” NASA/Goddard/SwRI/Johns Hopkins APL
Dinkinesh , which roughly translates to “ marvelous ” in Amharic , is around 0.5 miles ( 790 measure ) at its widest . Thesmall asteroid was lend to the mission ’s itinerary in Januaryas a way to test the spacecraft ’s terminal tracking arrangement , which is used for precise imaging during its high upper encounter with the asteroid .
Although it was only meant to be a test of its scheme , Lucy ’s brief clash with Dinkinesh is the gift that keeps on gift . The space vehicle itself has move on already , and is currently guide back toward Earth for a gravity help in December 2024 that will propel it back towards the principal asteroid belt for a close flyby of asteroid Donaldjohanson in 2025 .
After its two former targets , the mission will begin its tour of the Trojan asteroid , a grouping of space rock that conduct and watch over Jupiter in its orbit around the Sun . Lucy will reach the Trojan asteroids in 2027 , visiting Eurybates and its binary partner Queta , follow by Polymele and its binary partner , Leucus , Orus , and the binary duet Patroclus and Menoetius .
The mission team still has plentitude of time to downlink the stay on data and image from Lucy ’s first asteroid showdown , which have conduct to uncovering more mysteries than they had initially anticipate . “ It ’s really marvelous when nature storm us with a Modern puzzle , ” Tom Statler , Lucy program scientist from NASA , said in a argument . “ Great skill pushes us to ask questions that we never knew we demand to ask . ”
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