Tag

Dinkinesh Asteroid

All articles tagged with #dinkinesh asteroid

space-exploration2 years ago•2 min saved

NASA's Surprising Discovery: Tiny Moon Found Orbiting Asteroid During Close Flyby

NASA's Lucy spacecraft, on a mission to study Jupiter's asteroids, captured a surprising image of the asteroid Dinkinesh near Mars, revealing the presence of a small moon orbiting it. The discovery was made during a flyby in Mars' main asteroid belt, approximately 300 million miles away. Dinkinesh measures just half a mile across, while its moon is about one-tenth of a mile across. This finding was a rehearsal for a larger mission to explore the mysterious asteroids near Jupiter. The Lucy spacecraft is expected to reach the first of the Trojan asteroids in 2027 and study them for at least six years.

via Fox News|

#dinkinesh-asteroid #jupiter-asteroids #lucy-spacecraft

space2 years ago•2 min saved

"NASA's Lucy Spacecraft Makes Surprising Discoveries During Asteroid Flybys"

NASA's Lucy spacecraft, on its way to explore Jupiter Trojan asteroids, made an unexpected discovery during its flyby of the small main belt asteroid Dinkinesh. The first images returned by Lucy revealed that Dinkinesh is actually a binary pair, consisting of a larger body approximately 0.5 miles wide and a smaller body about 0.15 miles in size. This encounter served as an engineering test for the spacecraft's tracking system, which successfully autonomously tracked the asteroid as it flew past at 10,000 mph. The data collected will provide valuable insights into the nature of small asteroids.

via NASA|

#asteroid-exploration #binary-pair #dinkinesh-asteroid