NASA's Lucy Spacecraft Successfully Completes 1st Flyby of Asteroid 'Dinky'

NASA's Lucy spacecraft successfully completed its first flyby of an asteroid on November 1, 2023, passing within 270 miles (354 kilometers) of the asteroid Dinkinesh, also known as Dinky. The flyby is a major milestone in Lucy's mission, which is to study 10 asteroids over the next 12 years.

Dinky is a small asteroid, just half a mile (1 kilometer) across, but it is important to scientists because it is one of the Trojan asteroids. Trojan asteroids are two groups of asteroids that orbit the Sun in the same path as Jupiter, one group leading Jupiter and one group trailing it. Scientists believe that Trojan asteroids are remnants of the early solar system, and they could provide clues about how the planets formed.

The Lucy spacecraft is equipped with a variety of instruments to study asteroids, including cameras, spectrometers, and thermal imagers. During the flyby of Dinky, Lucy's instruments collected data on the asteroid's size, shape, composition, and surface features.

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"We are thrilled with the success of the first flyby of Lucy," said Hal Levison, principal investigator of the Lucy mission at Southwest Research Institute. "This is a major milestone in our mission to explore the Trojan asteroids."

The data collected by Lucy during the flyby of Dinky will be sent back to Earth and analyzed by scientists. The scientists hope to learn more about the asteroid's composition, formation history, and place in the solar system.