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Dinky

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science-and-astronomy2 years ago

"Dinky Asteroid's Double Moon Named and Explored by Lucy Mission"

NASA's Lucy spacecraft, on its way to investigate ancient asteroids called the Trojans, discovered that one of its non-Trojan targets, asteroid Dinky, is actually a binary system with its own moon named Selam. To everyone's surprise, Selam itself has a moon, making it the first contact-binary orbiting an asteroid. The Lucy team has now confirmed the name Selam for Dinky's moon, in honor of a fossil nicknamed "Lucy's baby." Further study of Dinky and Selam will help scientists understand how this unique system formed.