NASA has selected eight participating scientists to join its Lucy mission to the Jupiter Trojan asteroids. These asteroids are remnants of our early solar system trapped on stable orbits associated with — but not close to — the planet Jupiter. NASA’s Lucy in the L4 Trojans Participating Scientist Program supports scientists to carry out new investigations … Read more
NASA’s Lucy spacecraft has its next flyby target, the small main belt asteroid Donaldjohanson, in its sights. By blinking between images captured by Lucy on Feb. 20 and 22, this animation shows the perceived motion of Donaldjohanson relative to the background stars as the spacecraft rapidly approaches the asteroid. Lucy will pass within 596 miles … Read more
Researchers have utilized infrared survey data to refine the asteroid’s size and surface brightness in support of the Nov. 1 encounter by NASA’s Lucy mission. NASA’s Lucy mission will soon have its first asteroid encounter as the spacecraft travels through deep space en route to Jupiter’s orbit. But before the spacecraft passes 265 miles (425 … Read more
Lucy is set to be launched on October 16. (Artist impression: Southwest Research Institute via NASA) Jupiter Trojan asteroids: NASA’s Lucy mission is set to be launched this week and the scientific community is excited as this would mark the first spacecraft to explore the Jupiter Trojan asteroids. It is believed that the asteroids are … Read more