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20 September 2023 08:01 a.m.
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The asteroid named (152830) Dinkinesh, also known as 1999 VD57, has been added to the mission of NASA’s Lucy spacecraft, the Trojan asteroid probe, a group of asteroids that Its orbit overlaps with the orbit of Jupiter.
Dinkinesh is a rocky main belt asteroid. It has a diameter of approximately 900 meters and was discovered on November 4, 1999 by the Lincoln Near Earth Asteroid Research (LINEAR). Scientists determined that Dinkinesh rotates on its own with a period of 52.67 hours. The variable brightness shows that it has an elongated shape. The Lucy LONng Range Reconnaissance Imager (L’LORRI) mounted on the Lucy spacecraft captured the first image of Dinkinesh 23 million kilometers from the asteroid.
Dinkinesh is also the first of 10 asteroids that the Lucy spacecraft will visit during its 12-year expedition. Scientists say the spacecraft will come as close as 450 kilometers away to Dinkinesh on Nov. 1. .2566.
Credit : NASA/Goddard/SwRI/Johns Hopkins APL
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