Yes, 9 is 2 more than seven, however that is certainly the number of asteroids the spacecraft will be visiting since there was another companion asteroid coupled with another that Lucy is expected to fly by. Eurybates, another of Lucys initially prepared stops, also has a companion asteroid, which a team found utilizing Hubble in January 2021, about nine months before the mission introduced.
Even when Lucy itself suffered and introduced from some technical concerns that were only recently mostly fixed, the group responsible for it was still trying to gather as much data as possible on the objective targets. Among those, Polymede, the smallest of the asteroids Lucy prepared to visit, took place to have a fortuitous huge event to view.
There is still so much we dont know about the asteroids. Numerous objectives have actually already been sent out to some near Earth and in the asteroid belt, but there are just so many that it is difficult to keep an eye on them all. Lucy, NASAs mission to the Trojan asteroids, is expected to assist with that, but even it does not understand what it is getting into. Obviously, there are much more things to check out than the objective designers at first thought when it released. Instead of visiting seven asteroids as originally visualized, the discovery of another asteroid in orbit around Polymede implies the objective will be visiting nine asteroids in total.
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Various objectives have already been sent out to some near Earth and in the asteroid belt, however there are just so lots of that it is hard to keep track of them all. Lucy, NASAs objective to the Trojan asteroids, is supposed to help with that, but even it doesnt know what it is getting into. Rather than checking out 7 asteroids as originally visualized, the discovery of another asteroid in orbit around Polymede means the mission will be checking out 9 asteroids in overall.
Information from the occultation showing the additional, formerly unidentified, satellite.Credit– NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.
Technically there are only two data points proving this satellite currently exists, and the team will not be able to call it up until they can determine its orbital pattern formally. That will likely prove difficult in the near term, as the satellite itself is too small, dim, and close to Polymede itself to be distinguishable to near-Earth telescopes. Their only hope depends on another prospective occultation (among which is occurring on August 26th), or when Lucy shows up in the system around 2027..
We reported previously on an occultation of Eurybates, the other of Lucys targets with a small satellite, back in October last year. They might not be the only two perk asteroids discovered as part of Lucys twelve-year mission. There are plenty more changes for occultations, and other observations, prior to Lucy sees Patroclus, its last asteroid, in 2033.
Learn More: NASA– NASAs Lucy Team Discovers Moon Around Asteroid PolymeleUT– Astronomers Lined up Under an Asteroids Shadow to Measure its Size PreciselySWRI– Lucy Occultation EventsUT– Lucys Solar Array is Fixed! (Mostly).
Lead Image: Model of PolymedeCredit– SWRI.
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They may not be the only two benefit asteroids found as part of Lucys twelve-year mission. There are plenty more changes for occultations, and other observations, prior to Lucy gos to Patroclus, its last asteroid, in 2033.
Model of Polymele and its newly found satellite.Credit– NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
It was occulting a star. Which occultation could result in plenty of additional data about this object that is distant and so small from Earth. Observing it is comparable to attempting to see a quarter on the streets of Los Angeles from Manhattan.
The Lucy group asked a collection of 26 groups of professional and amateur astronomers to spread out throughout the occultation path on March 27 of this year. Just Fourteen of those groups were successfully able to find the occultation due partly to sky conditions. Two of those observations held a “unique surprise,” as a press release called it.
They saw something else pass in front of the star that wasnt Polymede itself but appeared to be located about 200 km far from it. “It needed to be a satellite,” stated Marc Buie, head of Lucys occultation team at the Southwest Research Institute. The things itself appears to be about 5 km long, not that much smaller sized than Polymede itself, which is only 27 km long on its longest side..