2023-11-08 20:45:17
By flying over the asteroid Dinkinesh, the Lucy space probe has made another astonishing discovery, which adds to the first one we already reported days ago.
When the first images captured by NASA’s Lucy space probe were received on Earth following its flyby of the asteroid Dinkinesh on November 1, it was discovered that it is actually not a single asteroid, but rather a main star. accompanied by what seemed to be another smaller one, definable as a moon of the first.
However, to further surprise, the images subsequently transmitted to Earth by Lucy reveal that this moon is in turn a pair of stars and that they are so close to each other that they touch.
Consequently, Dinkinesh can be considered a triple asteroid system, although the fact that two of the components are in apparently stable contact raises the question of whether the system should be considered double rather than triple.
This unique trio (or duo) is found in the main asteroid belt, which is located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.
On the left, the main asteroid of the Dinkinesh system. On the right, the satellite asteroid, which is a pair of small asteroids that are in physical contact. (Photo: NASA Goddard / SwRI / Johns Hopkins APL)
The Lucy space probe left Earth on October 16, 2021, on a trip that will take it to visit various asteroids, mostly of the Trojan type.
The Trojan asteroids, named after characters from Greek mythology, orbit the Sun in two swarms. One of them precedes Jupiter in its orbital path. The other follows the planet behind. Lucy aspires to be the first spacecraft to visit asteroids of that class.
If everything goes as planned, Lucy’s next flyby of an asteroid will be one of the main belt, specifically Donaldjohanson in 2025. In 2027 it will begin to fly over Trojan asteroids. (Source: NCYT from Amazings)
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