Unveiling the Astonishing Dual Moons of Asteroid Dinkinesh

NASA's Lucy mission, during its first asteroid flyby, discovered that the small moon orbiting the main belt asteroid Dinkinesh is actually two moons that appear as one because they are touching. Dinkinesh is the smallest main belt asteroid ever explored by a spacecraft, and its moons are approximately the same size, which is unusual for contact binaries. Scientists are intrigued by how these equally-sized bodies stick together gravitationally and are eager to study them further. This unexpected finding demonstrates that Lucy's equipment is working well, and the mission will continue to survey other asteroids in the future.