#152830

[astronomyforastrologers]

NASA’s Lucy spacecraft flew by asteroid Dinkinesh on 1 November 2023 and revealed that it is actually a binary asteroid system.

[astronomyforastrologers]

152830 Dinkinesh

152830 Dinkinesh (provisional designation 1999 VD57) is a binary main-belt asteroid about 790 meters (2,600 feet) in diameter. It was discovered by the Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research (LINEAR) survey at Socorro, New Mexico on 4 November 1999.

Dinkinesh was the first flyby target of NASA's Lucy mission, which approached 425 km (264 mi) from the asteroid on 1 November 2023. During the flyby, the Lucy spacecraft discovered that Dinkinesh has a natural satellite 220 meters (720 ft) in diameter. Dinkinesh is the smallest main-belt asteroid explored by spacecraft yet (there are some smaller near-Earth asteroids that have also been explored)

[astronomyforastrologers]

NASA’s Lucy Spacecraft Discovers 2nd Asteroid During Dinkinesh Flyby

On Nov. 1, NASA’s Lucy spacecraft flew by not just its first asteroid, but its first two. The first images returned by Lucy reveal that the small main belt asteroid Dinkinesh is actually a binary pair.