” This is actually a small little asteroid. A few of the group affectionately describe it as Dinky. For a small asteroid, we expect it to be a huge assistance for the Lucy objective.”– Hal Levison, Lucy principal investigator
In 1999, when the asteroid Dinkinesh was first discovered, it was given the provisional classification 1999 VD57. It earned an official number, (152830 ), a number of years later on when its orbit was adequately well figured out. But, like most of the millions of small asteroids in the main asteroid belt, it was left unnamed. Once the Lucy team determined this asteroid as a target, the group proposed this brand-new name, motivated by Lucys mission to check out residues of the early solar system.
A size comparison of (152830) Dinkinesh (shown in blue in the artist idea) to the main belt asteroid (2867) Steins and the near-Earth asteroid (101955) Bennu. For a little asteroid, we expect it to be a huge aid for the Lucy mission.”
Lucy will check out the Jupiter Trojan asteroids– believed to be “fossils of planet development.” Credit: NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center
The first asteroid to be visited by NASAs Lucy objective now has a name. The International Astronomical Union has approved the name (152830) Dinkinesh for the tiny main belt asteroid that the Lucy spacecraft will come across on November 1, 2023.
” This mission was called for Lucy since simply as that fossil reinvented our understanding of human advancement, we anticipate this objective to revolutionize our understanding of the origin and advancement of our solar system,” stated Keith Noll, Lucy task researcher, from NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “We are delighted to have another opportunity to honor that connection.”
The main factor the team has included Dinkinesh to Lucys already-packed tour (10 asteroids, consisting of the freshly discovered satellites) is to test the innovative terminal tracking system, which is critical for exact imaging during these high-speed encounters. While the asteroid is less than half a mile (less than a km) in size, it is an excellent chance to evaluate out Lucys systems prior to the primary clinical activities of the mission: discovering the never-before-explored Jupiter Trojan asteroids, which are in many methods fossils of our early solar system.
A size comparison of (152830) Dinkinesh (revealed in blue in the artist idea) to the primary belt asteroid (2867) Steins and the near-Earth asteroid (101955) Bennu. As a small main belt asteroid, Dinkinesh will serve as a link between these 2 populations.
” This is really a small little asteroid,” said Hal Levison, Lucy primary detective, from Southwest Research Institutes (SwRI) Boulder workplace. “Some of the group passionately describe it as Dinky. For a little asteroid, we expect it to be a huge aid for the Lucy mission.”
While the main function of this encounter is as an engineering test, objective scientists are likewise delighted for what this tiny asteroid might teach us. This will be the tiniest main belt asteroid ever explored, and it is much better in size to near-Earth asteroids that were just recently studied by spacecraft than the primary belt asteroids formerly gone to by other missions.
” At closest technique, if all goes smoothly, we anticipate Dinkinesh to be 100s of pixels across as seen from Lucys sharpest imager,” states Simone Marchi, deputy principal detective, also from SwRI. “While we will not be able to see all the details of the surface, even the general shape may indicate whether near-Earth asteroids– which originate in the primary belt– change significantly as soon as they enter near-Earth area.”
Dinkinesh may expose yet another aspect of the evolutionary history of our solar system.
Lucys primary investigator is based out of the Boulder, Colorado branch of Southwest Research Institute, headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, supplies total objective management, systems engineering, and safety and mission assurance. Lockheed Martin Space in Littleton, Colorado, developed the spacecraft. Lucy is the 13th objective in NASAs Discovery Program. NASAs Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, manages the Discovery Program for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington.
The very first asteroid to be visited by NASAs Lucy objective now has a name. Like most of the millions of little asteroids in the main asteroid belt, it was left unnamed. Once the Lucy group determined this asteroid as a target, the group proposed this brand-new name, inspired by Lucys objective to check out residues of the early solar system.