NASA’s Lucy Discovers a Surprising Asteroid Around a Satellite

NASA’s asteroid-probing spacecraft, Lucy, has conducted its initial close-up observations, revealing an entirely unexpected find. The asteroid Dinkinesh not only possesses a small orbiting moon but, remarkably, this moon is composed of two objects fused together.

Launched in 2021, Lucy is on track to explore more asteroids than any other spacecraft in history. Its primary objective is to investigate the Trojans, which are two groups of asteroids encircling the Sun at Jupiter’s distance – one leading and the other trailing the massive planet. Along the way, it is conducting a preliminary examination of asteroids in the main asteroid belt just beyond Mars, with Dinkinesh as its inaugural target.

Surprising discoveries from Dinkinesh

Dinkinesh, as it is known, was not anticipated to present any unexpected findings. Its primary purpose was to serve as a test for the Lucy spacecraft’s ability to track asteroids and capture images while passing by them at a speed of 16,000 km/h (10,000 mph). However, in the weeks leading up to the spacecraft’s approach, the asteroid’s brightness appeared to be undergoing fluctuations.

On November 1, Lucy finally reached proximity that allowed it to commence capturing images, and these images quickly unveiled the reason behind the fluctuating brightness: a small satellite object was detected in orbit around the main body of Dinkinesh. Based on these images, the team estimates that the larger object measures around 790 meters (2,592 feet) in width, while the smaller one is about 220 meters (722 feet) in size.

Things took a strange turn when additional data was transmitted. Merely six minutes later, as Lucy was moving away from Dinkinesh, it captured another series of images that revealed the moon of the asteroid was, in fact, composed of two separate objects. In the initial images, the second object had been concealed behind the first.

These two entities are in such close proximity that they are in physical contact with each other, creating a phenomenon known as a “contact binary.” While this is not the initial discovery of such a configuration, it does mark the first time one has been observed in orbit around an asteroid, sparking some intriguing questions.

The mystery of the satellite’s appearance

“It’s genuinely perplexing,” remarked Hal Levison, the principal investigator for Lucy. “I would have never anticipated a system with this appearance. Particularly, the similarity in size between the two components of the satellite puzzles me. Deciphering this will undoubtedly be an exciting challenge for the scientific community.”

Further data is still awaiting download from Lucy’s close encounter with Dinkinesh. Moreover, this initial fly-by is just the beginning of a series of visits to asteroids for the spacecraft. In 2025, Lucy will delve deeper into the primary asteroid belt to explore Donaldjohanson before embarking on its mission to the Trojans, where it will capture images of at least seven more asteroids starting in 2027. If the first encounter yielded such surprises, one can only wonder what the upcoming ones might unveil.

Read the original article on: New artlas

Read more: Two Teams are Assessing Asteroid Mining’s Economic Viability