This image reveals the “moonrise” of the satellite as it emerges from behind asteroid Dinkinesh as seen by the Lucy Long-Range Reconnaissance Imager (LLORRI), one of the most in-depth images returned by NASAs Lucy spacecraft during its flyby of the asteroid binary. In the weeks prior to the spacecrafts encounter with Dinkinesh, the Lucy group had wondered if Dinkinesh may be a binary system, given how Lucys instruments were seeing the asteroids brightness changing with time. A series of images of the binary asteroid pair, Dinkinesh, as seen by the terminal tracking camera (T2CAM) on NASAs Lucy spacecraft throughout its closest approach on Nov. 1, 2023. In some ways, these asteroids look comparable to the near-Earth asteroid binary Didymos and Dimorphos that DART saw, but there are some really fascinating distinctions that we will be investigating.”.
The team will utilize this information to evaluate the spacecrafts behavior throughout the encounter and to prepare for the next close-up appearance at an asteroid, the main belt asteroid Donaldjohanson, in 2025.
Discovery of Binary System
In the weeks prior to the spacecrafts encounter with Dinkinesh, the Lucy team had actually wondered if Dinkinesh may be a binary system, given how Lucys instruments were seeing the asteroids brightness altering with time. From an initial analysis of the first offered images, the group approximates that the bigger body is around 0.5 miles (790 m) at its widest, while the smaller is about 0.15 miles (220 m) in size.
Checking the Terminal Tracking System
This encounter mainly served as an in-flight test of the spacecraft, particularly focusing on evaluating the system that permits Lucy to autonomously track an asteroid as it flies past at 10,000 miles per hour, described as the terminal tracking system.
A series of images of the binary asteroid set, Dinkinesh, as seen by the terminal tracking camera (T2CAM) on NASAs Lucy spacecraft during its closest technique on Nov. 1, 2023. The images were taken 13 seconds apart. The obvious movement of the 2 asteroids is because of the movement of the spacecraft as it flew past at 10,000 mph (4.5 km/s). These images have actually been honed and processed to improve contrast. Credit: NASA/Goddard/SwRI/ ASU.
Scientific Excitement and Future Missions.
” This is an awesome series of images. They show that the terminal tracking system worked as intended, even when the universe provided us with a harder target than we expected,” stated Tom Kennedy, guidance and navigation engineer at Lockheed Martin in Littleton, Colorado. “Its one thing to mimic, test, and practice. Its another thing completely to see it actually occur.”.
While this encounter was performed as an engineering test, the groups scientists are excitedly poring over the information to obtain insights into the nature of little asteroids.
” We knew this was going to be the tiniest primary belt asteroid ever seen up close,” stated Keith Noll, Lucy job scientist from NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “The truth that it is two makes it much more exciting. In some ways, these asteroids look comparable to the near-Earth asteroid binary Didymos and Dimorphos that DART saw, however there are some truly interesting differences that we will be investigating.”.
It will take up to a week for the team to downlink the remainder of the encounter data from the spacecraft. The group will utilize this information to evaluate the spacecrafts behavior during the encounter and to prepare for the next close-up take a look at an asteroid, the main belt asteroid Donaldjohanson, in 2025. Lucy will then be well-prepared to experience the missions main targets, the Jupiter Trojan asteroids, starting in 2027.
This image shows the “moonrise” of the satellite as it emerges from behind asteroid Dinkinesh as seen by the Lucy Long-Range Reconnaissance Imager (LLORRI), among the most in-depth images returned by NASAs Lucy spacecraft throughout its flyby of the asteroid binary. This image was taken at 12:55 p.m. EDT (1655 UTC) Nov. 1, 2023, within a minute of closest technique, from a variety of roughly 270 miles (430 km). From this perspective, the satellite lags the main asteroid. The image has been sharpened and processed to improve contrast. Credit: NASA/Goddard/SwRI/ Johns Hopkins APL/NOAO
NASAs Lucy spacecraft has actually exposed that the asteroid Dinkinesh is a binary system. The flyby tested the spacecrafts tracking capabilities and supplied a sneak peek of the missions ultimate goal: to check out the Jupiter Trojan asteroids.
On November 1, NASAs Lucy spacecraft flew by not just its first asteroid, but its first 2. The very first images returned by Lucy expose that the small main belt asteroid Dinkinesh is in fact a binary set.
” Dinkinesh really did live up to its name; this is marvelous,” stated Hal Levison, referring to the meaning of Dinkinesh in the Amharic language, “marvelous.” Levison is principal investigator for Lucy from the Boulder, Colorado, branch of the San-Antonio-based Southwest Research Institute. “When Lucy was originally picked for flight, we planned to fly by seven asteroids. With the addition of Dinkinesh, two Trojan moons, and now this satellite, weve turned it as much as 11.”
