This image reveals the asteroid Dinkinesh and its satellite as seen by the Lucy Long-Range Reconnaissance Imager (LLORRI) as NASAs Lucy Spacecraft left the system. This image was taken at 1 p.m. EDT (1700 UTC) on November 1, 2023, about 6 minutes after closest technique, from a variety of around 1,010 miles (1,630 km). From this point of view, the satellite is revealed to be a contact binary, the very first time a contact binary has been seen orbiting another asteroid. Credit: NASA/Goddard/SwRI/ Johns Hopkins APL
NASAs Lucy Surprise Observation of 1st-ever Contact Binary Orbiting Asteroid
It turns out there is more to the “splendid” asteroid Dinkinesh and its newly found satellite than very first satisfies the eye. As NASAs Lucy spacecraft continued to return data of its first asteroid encounter on November 1, 2023, the group was surprised to find that Dinkineshs unexpected satellite is, itself, a contact binary– that is, it is made of two smaller things touching each other.
Preliminary Observations and Surprises
In the very first downlinked images of Dinkinesh and its satellite, which were taken at closest approach, the 2 lobes of the contact binary took place to lie one behind the other from Lucys point of view. Just when the team downlinked extra images, captured in the minutes around the encounter, was the true nature of this things exposed.
A diagram showing the trajectory of the NASA Lucy spacecraft (red) throughout its flyby of the asteroid Dinkinesh and its satellite (gray). “A” marks the area of the spacecraft at 12:55 p.m. EDT (1655 UTC) on November 1, 2023, and an inset shows the LLORRI image captured at that time. “B” marks the spacecrafts position a few minutes later at 1 p.m. EDT (1700 UTC), and the inset shows the corresponding LLORRI view at that time. Credit: Overall graphic, NASA/Goddard/SwRI; Inset “A,” NASA/Goddard/SwRI/ Johns Hopkins APL/NOIRLab; Inset “B,” NASA/Goddard/SwRI/ Johns Hopkins APL
” Contact binaries seem to be fairly typical in the solar system,” stated John Spencer, Lucy deputy project scientist, of the Boulder, Colorado, branch of the San-Antonio-based Southwest Research Institute. “We have not seen many up-close, and weve never ever seen one orbiting another asteroid. We had actually been perplexing over odd variations in Dinkineshs brightness that we saw on method, which offered us a hint that Dinkinesh might have a moon of some sort, however we never ever suspected anything so unusual!”
Mission Goals and Unexpected Findings
Lucys main goal is to survey the never-before-visited Jupiter Trojan asteroids. This first encounter with a small, primary belt asteroid was only added to the objective in January 2023, mainly to work as an in-flight test of the system that enables the spacecraft to continually track and image its asteroid targets as it flies previous at high speed. The excellent performance of that system at Dinkinesh permitted the team to catch several point of views on the system, which allowed the team to better understand the asteroids shapes and make this unexpected discovery.
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 concept (not to scale), the Lucy spacecraft is flying by Eurybates, among the six diverse and clinically essential Trojans to be studied. Credit: Southwest Research Institute
” It is puzzling, to say the least,” said Hal Levison, principal investigator for Lucy, also from Southwest Research Institute. In specific, I do not comprehend why the two parts of the satellite have similar sizes.
This 2nd image was taken about 6 minutes after closest approach from a range of roughly 1,010 miles (1,630 km). The spacecraft circumnavigated 960 miles (1,500 km) in between the two launched images.
Continuing the Journey Through Space
” Its really splendid when nature surprises us with a new puzzle,” said Tom Statler, Lucy program researcher from NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Great science presses us to ask concerns that we never knew we needed to ask.”
The team is continuing to process the remainder and downlink of the encounter data from the spacecraft. Dinkinesh and its satellite are the first two of 11 asteroids that Lucy plans to check out over its 12-year journey. After skimming the inner edge of the main asteroid belt, Lucy is now heading back towards Earth for a gravity help in December 2024. That close flyby will propel the spacecraft back through the main asteroid belt, where it will observe asteroid Donaldjohanson in 2025, and then on to the Trojan asteroids in 2027.
NASAs Lucy Mission
Lucys primary detective is based out of the Boulder, Colorado, branch of Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), headquartered in San Antonio. NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, supplies total objective management, systems engineering, and security and objective guarantee. Lockheed Martin Space in Littleton, Colorado, built and runs the spacecraft. Lucy is the 13th objective in NASAs Discovery Program. NASAs Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, handles the Discovery Program for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington.
A diagram showing the trajectory of the NASA Lucy spacecraft (red) throughout its flyby of the asteroid Dinkinesh and its satellite (gray). NASAs Lucy objective, which released on October 16, 2021, for the very first reconnaissance of the Trojans, a population of primitive asteroids orbiting in tandem with Jupiter. Dinkinesh and its satellite are the very first two of 11 asteroids that Lucy prepares to explore over its 12-year journey. After skimming the inner edge of the primary asteroid belt, Lucy is now heading back towards Earth for a gravity help in December 2024. That close flyby will propel the spacecraft back through the main asteroid belt, where it will observe asteroid Donaldjohanson in 2025, and then on to the Trojan asteroids in 2027.
