First images of Trojan asteroids from NASA’s Lucy mission

14 Apr. (EUROPE PRESS) –

NASA’s Lucy mission en route to Jupiter’s Trojan asteroids has taken the first images of some of its targets, that they are still more than 530 million kilometers away.

From March 25-27, 2023, Lucy used her highest-resolution imager, L’LORRI, to capture her first views of four Jupiterian Trojan asteroids. From left to right in the image they are: Eurybates, Polymele, Leucus and Orus.

Although the four images are all to the same scale, the orientation of each is different, reflecting the different orientations of the L’LORRI camera as it rotated to capture each target, reports NASA.

The targets were also observed during different time periods based on their rotation periods: Eurybates images were taken within 6.5 hours; Polymele, about 2.5 hours; Leuco, 2 hours; and Orús, 10 hours.

These images are the first in a series of planned observations designed to measure how Trojan asteroids they reflect light at angles higher than those observable from Earth. Although the asteroids are still just single points of light in these images, seen against a background of distant stars, the data will help the team choose exposure times for Lucy’s close-up observations of her targets.

Lucy will fly by these asteroids in 2027 and 2028 as the spacecraft travels through a swarm of small asteroids that lead Jupiter in its orbit around the Sun. Lucy is just over a year into a 12-year journey that involves close observation of nine of Jupiter’s Trojans, the first space mission to visit them, and a main belt asteroid.