NASA’s Lucy probe has gained a ninth asteroid vacation spot for its 12-year mission.
Lucy launched in October 2021 and is certain for the Trojan asteroids, which, because of the pull of Jupiter’s immense gravity, experience within the gasoline large’s orbit forward of and behind the behemoth. In 2027, Lucy will turn out to be the primary human-made object to fly previous one among these asteroids.
The mission was designed to zoom previous a main-belt asteroid then swing via an advanced itinerary of Trojan asteroids. And now, scientists have decided that one among Lucy‘s unique goal asteroids has a companion: one other, tiny asteroid that orbits it and that Lucy may also be capable to observe, Spaceflight Now report (opens in new tab)s.
Associated: Meet the 8 asteroids NASA’s Lucy spacecraft will go to
Lucy’s third goal is an asteroid referred to as Polymele, a gourd-shaped house rock that is roughly 13 miles (21 kilometers) from finish to finish. Polymele’s form is unusual for an asteroid, suggesting that it is a remnant from the very early photo voltaic system — one which has managed to keep away from collisions to this point.
In March, astronomers observing Polymele in preparation for Lucy’s eventual go to watched the asteroid cross in entrance of a star, blocking that star’s distant gentle. Within the course of, they discovered one thing very curious: a tiny companion house rock.
“We obtained a very nice projected form of Polymele, after which we have been very shocked to detect an object about 200 kilometers (120 miles) away from Polymele,” Hal Levison, a planetary scientist on the Southwest Analysis Institute and Lucy’s principal investigator, mentioned in a presentation final week, in accordance with Spaceflight Now (opens in new tab). “It is 5 kilometers (3 miles) in diameter, and it is sitting nearly precisely in Polymele’s equatorial aircraft.”
That companion doesn’t have a reputation and will not have one till scientists know extra in regards to the asteroid’s precise orbit, which could not occur till Lucy‘s go to. However some astronomers have jokingly begun calling it Shaun after the character within the animation “Shaun the Sheep.”
Shaun is the second house rock to be added to the Lucy mission’s itinerary: In 2020, scientists engaged on the mission decided that concentrate on asteroid Eurybates additionally boasts a small companion.
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