NASA’s Lucy spacecraft recently performed a flyby of the Dinkinesh asteroid in the main belt of space rocks beyond Mars. The flyby confirmed that the asteroid is actually made up of two separate rocks.
Scientists initially theorized the presence of two asteroids based on the changing brightness of Dinkinesh over time, indicating the presence of an orbital shadow.
On Wednesday, Lucy sent back images of the smaller rock orbiting the main Dinkinesh asteroid, confirming the theory. These two rocks are approximately 300 million miles away from Earth.
Dinkinesh is the smallest asteroid in the main belt to be observed up close. Lucy captured the images while traveling at a speed of 10,000 mph, approximately 270 miles away from the asteroids, as a test of an autonomous tracking system.
The larger of the two space rocks has a width of around 2,640 feet, while the smaller one is about 792 feet, according to NASA.
“We knew this was going to be the smallest main belt asteroid ever seen up close. The fact that it is two makes it even more exciting,” said Keith Noll, a scientist working on the Lucy project from Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland.
