NASA observes twin asteroids orbiting an asteroid

The "Lucy" space mission, launched by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in October 2021, has discovered adjacent asteroids orbiting the asteroid Dinkinesh.

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NASA observes twin asteroids orbiting an asteroid

According to a statement on NASA's website, the Lucy spacecraft, which was launched in October 2021 with the goal of studying the "Trojan" asteroids located in Jupiter's orbit, passed by the space rock located in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter on November 1.

Lucy captured images of the asteroid Dinkinesh, which was a close-flyby target and is expected to be the smallest main-belt asteroid ever visited by a spacecraft.

The images revealed that, contrary to expectations, the satellite orbiting Dinkinesh consists of two small objects touching each other.

THE REASON FOR THEIR IDENTICAL SIZE IS NOT YET KNOWN

Lucy deputy project scientist John Spencer stated that binary asteroids appear to be quite common in the solar system, but that they had never before seen a twin asteroid system orbiting another asteroid.

Stating that the observed system was unexpected, Spencer added that the reason why the adjacent twin asteroids are the same size is not yet understood.

Information continues to arrive from the small asteroid Dinkinesh, which was visited by Lucy.

News Source: AA