NASA's Lucy Mission Uncovers Astonishing Discoveries During Asteroid Encounter
TL;DR
NASA's Lucy spacecraft, on its mission to survey Jupiter Trojan asteroids, made an unexpected discovery during its first encounter with the asteroid Dinkinesh. The team found that Dinkinesh's satellite is a contact binary, composed of two smaller objects touching each other. This is the first time a contact binary has been observed orbiting another asteroid. The discovery was made through multiple perspectives captured by Lucy's imaging system, providing insights into the asteroids' shapes. The team is excited to unravel the mysteries of this bizarre system and continue exploring the remaining 10 asteroids on Lucy's 12-year journey.
- Another Surprise From NASA's Lucy Asteroid Encounter: “We Never Suspected Anything So Bizarre!” SciTechDaily
- ‘Puzzling’ discovery spotted in new images from NASA mission’s asteroid flyby CNN
- Newfound 'moon' around asteroid Dinkinesh is actually two tiny moons touching Livescience.com
- NASA spacecraft found a surprise within a surprise Mashable
- 'Dinky' Asteroid Is Three Space Rocks, Not Two, NASA Flyby Finds Scientific American
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