NASA’s Lucy spacecraft is about to have its second close encounter with the asteroid

NASA spacecraft will conduct a careful approach to asteroids in the main belt on Sunday afternoon, the second plan for several asteroid Flybys, planning its 12-year mission to study the remnants of early solar systems. According to NASA. Lucy will use three instruments to capture detailed observations as the object gets closer and rotates with the asteroid in a few hours to get the full picture. Because of the position of the sun to prevent them from damaging them, it will stop tracking before the asteroid is closest to it.

The spacecraft had previously visited an asteroid called Dinkinesh in 2023, and its observations suggest that the asteroid is rotated by so-called contact binary rotations, or a peanut-shaped bimonthly made by two smaller objects in contact with each other,” NASA explained. After Donaldjohanson, Lucy will continue to move forward with a handful of “Trojans” asteroids orbiting the sun on the same path as Jupiter. It is expected to reach its first object in 2027.

“Every asteroid has a different story to tell, and these stories are woven together to portray the history of our solar system,” Lucy Mission Project scientist Tom Statler said in a press release. “The fact that every new asteroid we visited will knock down socks means we’re just starting to understand the depth and richness of history. Telescopic observations show that Donaldjohanson will have an interesting story that I totally expect to be surprised – again.”