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Lucy (the spacecraft) in the sky with diamonds [1]
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Date: 2023-10-31
Let’s take a few moments off the numbing news cycle to marvel at the amazing beauty of the cosmos and humankind’s quest to understand it.
NASA's Lucy spacecraft, which was launched on October 16, 2021, is getting ready for its close flyby of the asteroid named Dinkinesh tomorrow, Nov 1, at 12:54 EDT.
Dinkinesh is a small (about 760 m wide) main belt asteroid, orbiting the sun between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, which was selected for Lucy’s first encounter with an asteroid.
Lucy will use this encounter to test its instruments and tracking systems, in preparation for its main mission of surveying 7 Jupiter trojan asteroids in 2027-2033.
There will be no live images during the flyby; they will be downloaded after spacecraft is well past the asteroid and the antenna is pointed back towards earth.
The Dinkinesh flyby
Currently, Lucy is located beyond the orbit of Mars, at a distance of ~482 million km from earth on the opposite side of the Sun. Signal travel time between Lucy and earth is ~27 minutes.
Lucy will get within 425 km of the surface of asteroid Dinkinesh and pass it at a relative speed of 15,840 km/h.
Here is a graphic illustrating Lucy’s trajectory over its 12-year mission.
On Wednesday, Lucy will fly by the small main belt asteroid Dinkinesh.
After another gravitational sling-shot flyby of earth in 2024, Lucy will pass by main belt asteroid DonaldJohanson in April 2025.
In 2027-2028, Lucy will survey five L4 trojan asteroids.
After that, it will swing by earth on its way to visit the L5 trojans in 2033.
The Trojans
The Jupiter trojans (aka trojan asteroids) are a group of asteroids located in Jupiter's orbit around the Sun.
The group known as the Greeks are located around the L4 Lagrange point, 60° ahead of Jupiter, the Trojans are located around the L5 Lagrange point, 60° behind.
The main belt asteroids lie between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.
Why visit these asteroids?
From lucy.swri.edu/… - Planet formation and evolution models suggest that the Trojan asteroids are likely remnant of the same primordial material that formed the outer planets, and thus serve as time capsules from the birth of our Solar System over 4 billion years ago. These primitive bodies hold vital clues to deciphering the history of our Solar System and may even tell us about the origins of organic materials—and even life—on Earth.
What’s in a name?
The Lucy mission is named after the Lucy hominin fossils, which were discovered in 1974 in Ethiopia and are dated to about 3.2 million years ago.
Why Lucy? According to NASA, “just as that Lucy fossil provided unique insights into humanity’s evolution, the Lucy mission promises to revolutionize our knowledge of planetary origins and the formation of the Solar System.”
« Lucy » skeleton (AL 288-1) Australopithecus afarensis, cast from Museum national d'histoire naturelle, Paris
Reconstruction of Lucy at the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico
en.wikipedia.org/...
Dinkinesh is the Ethiopian name for the Lucy fossil. The name means "you are wonderful" in the Amharic language.
Asteroid (52246) Donaldjohanson is named after one of the co-discoverers of the Lucy fossil.
The names for these two asteroids were recommended by the Lucy team.
Interestingly, the Lucy hominid was named after the 1967 Beatles song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds". The song was played loudly and repeatedly in the expedition camp all evening after the excavation team's first day of work on the recovery site.
And yes the Lucy spacecraft has a diamond, a large lab-grown diamond in its L'TES instrument, which serves as a beamsplitter.
So, let's listen to the Beatles sing “Lucy in the sky with diamonds” as Lucy flies by asteroid 'you are wonderful' Dinkinesh in this video with some interesting graphics.
Epilogue
While we marvel at the universe and search for our origins on this Halloween night, let’s keep in mind that there is an entire segment of humanity that cares two hoots about science except when it enriches them and when it allows them to control the minds of millions of ordinary folks and turn them into zombies. Let’s make sure that humanity survives, guided by the light of science, not by the darkness of these soulless creatures. Let’s keep working to educate the public, keep them informed and let’s keep stressing that the survival of humanity depends on electing Democrats.
References
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