By Katherine Kretke, Southwest Research Study Institute
May 21, 2022
NASAs Lucy mission, which introduced on October 16, 2021, for the very first reconnaissance of the Trojans, a population of primitive asteroids orbiting in tandem with Jupiter. In this artists principle (not to scale), the Lucy spacecraft is flying by Eurybates, one of the six varied and clinically crucial Trojans to be studied. Credit: Southwest Research Institute
NASAs Lucy spacecraft observed the total lunar eclipse on May 15-16, 2022, from a special viewpoint, 64 million miles (100 million km) from the Earth, nearly 70% of the range between the Earth and the Sun. Utilizing its high-resolution panchromatic video camera, LLORRI, Lucy had the ability to enjoy as the Earth cast its shadow on the Moon. At this range, the Earth and Moon appeared just 0.2 degrees apart to Lucy, having the same separation as a vehicles tail-lights as viewed from a quarter-mile (400 m) away.
Credit: NASA/Goddard/APL/ SwRI.
In this timelapse video, the Earth is seen in the left (its rotation clearly visible) while the Moon (on the right, lightened up sixfold to increase its visibility) disappears from consider as it enters the Earths shadow. The video covers a period of almost 3 hours, from 9:40 p.m. EDT (6:40 p.m. PDT) on May 15 to 12:30 a.m. EDT on May 16 (9:30 p.m. PDT on May 15). The observations ended before the Moon emerged from the shadow.
The Lucy spacecraft released in October 2021. It is presently taking a trip back towards Earth for a gravity assist on October 16, 2022, to assist propel it on its journey to the Trojan asteroids.
