CNN —Dinkinesh, a small asteroid that NASA’s Lucy mission visited last week, continues to surprise.
At first, images suggested that the space rock was part of a binary pair, with a smaller asteroid orbiting Dinkinesh.
The first image taken by the spacecraft during its closest approach revealed the companion, but not the fact that it was a contact binary.
“Contact binaries seem to be fairly common in the solar system,” said John Spencer, Lucy deputy project scientist at the Southwest Research Institute, in a statement.
The skeleton has helped researchers piece together aspects of human evolution, and NASA Lucy team members hope their mission will achieve a similar feat regarding the history of our solar system.
Persons:
CNN —, Lucy, Goddard, Johns Hopkins, ”, John Spencer, we’ve, We’d, Hal Levison, “, Tom Statler, NASA Lucy
Organizations:
CNN, NASA, Southwest Research Institute, Dinkinesh, Trojans
Locations:
Ethiopia, Jupiter