NASA's Asteroid-Touring Mission has picked up its 9th target . NASA's Lucy Mission Uncovers Trojan Asteroid Near Jupiter With Its Own Moon .
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| An artist's depiction of the Lucy spacecraft flying past two Trojan asteroids . Credit : NASA/Southwest Research Institute |
NASA's Asteroid-Touring Mission has picked up its 9th target .
The Astronomers have been monitoring the Trojan Asteroid , in preparation for the Lucy-Mission to explore . On March, 2022 the Mission-Team invited 26 teams across the world to watch one of those asteroids : Approximately 17 Mile Wide ( 27 Kilometres ) Polymele , appear to pass in front of a star in what Scientists call an Occultation .
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By comparing the data from the 26 different locations on Earth , Scientists can accurately measure the shadow an Asteroid casts on a star during such an event , allowing them to accurately study the size and shape of the Asteroid . But during this March Observation , which was briefly reported at the time , 2 of those 26 teams , noticed something different .
“We were thrilled that 14 teams reported observing the star blink out as it passed behind the asteroid, but as we analyzed the data, we saw that two of the observations were not like the others .” stated Marc Buie , Lucy Scientist , Southwest Research Institute in Colorado .
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Astronomers are reviewing the data concluded those observations indicated a previously unknown Asteroid orbiting Polymele about 125 Miles ( 200 km ) away . “ It had to be a Satellite . ” Buie stated . The Team of Scientists could even determine the newly found Asteroid's size , about 3 miles ( 5 km ) across .
The still unknown, still unnamed Asteroid has since been added to Lucy's ambitious itinerary of Space-Rock flybys . Scientists announced they had spotted a Satellite orbiting Eurybates , which Lucy will fly past just one-month before Polymele .
Like most of Lucy's destinations , Polymele is a Trojan , an Asteroid which drifts around the Sun , in about the same orbit as Jupiter . It happens due to Jupiter's immense Gravitational-Pull . Scientists believe that these types of rocks are the rubble , left from Planet Formation . Therefore , these rocks can tell us about the early days of our Solar-System .
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| A diagram of occultation observations show Polymele in the upper left and its newly discovered satellite on the right . Credit : NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center |
Some of the 26 Discovery Team have reported the newly discovered Asteroid's name as “ Shaun ” , after the after the animated sheep . It can't be an official name , until Scientists can accurately confirm the characteristics of its Orbit . It is likely won't happen any time soon . It is why because Polymele's Satellite is not discernible by current Earth based Telescopes . Scientists may have to wait until Lucy itself swings past the Asteroid , which is scheduled to occur in 2027 .
With the discovery that the #TrojanAsteroid Polymele has a satellite, Lucy is now planning to visit not 7, not 8, but 9 asteroids on its 12 year voyage!
— Lucy Mission (@LucyMission) August 18, 2022
Check out our latest post for a behind-the-scenes look at how this satellite was discovered! https://t.co/1n1Rggwb7j pic.twitter.com/dO3xgZueLf
“ Lucy’s tagline started out: 12 years, seven asteroids, one spacecraft. We keep having to change the tagline for this mission, but that's a good problem to have . ” stated Tom Statler , Scientist of NASA's Lucy Mission .
