Lucy Stories

A diagram showing photographs of the asteroid Dinkinesh at two angles, as captured by NASA's Lucy spacecraft on its flyby. The spacecraft's flight path is represented by a red line that pans the top portion of the image from right to left, represented by arrow heads pointing left. There are four inset images, two show the Lucy spacecraft at different angles at point A (right) and point B (left). Point A shows the first image taken of Dinkinesh, showing the asteroid and its small satellite. Point B shows the second image taken at a different angle of Dinkinesh, now showing two small grey satellites orbiting the asteroid.

NASA’s Lucy Surprises Again, Observes 1st-ever Contact Binary Orbiting Asteroid

4 min read

NASA's Lucy Spacecraft took images of asteroid Dinkinesh, discovering that the asteroid has the first-ever contact binary pair orbiting the…

Article6 months ago

Data From NASA’s WISE Used to Preview Lucy Mission’s Asteroid Dinkinesh

4 min read

Researchers have utilized infrared survey data to refine the asteroid’s size and surface brightness in support of the Nov. 1…

Article7 months ago
Artist's view of what the Lucy spacecraft, with its big round solar panels, might look like flying past one of its asteroid targets.

NASA’s Lucy Spacecraft Preparing for its First Asteroid Flyby

5 min read

NASA’s Lucy spacecraft is preparing for its first close-up look at an asteroid. On Nov. 1, it will fly by…

Article7 months ago
Visualization showing a black and white image of stars, with a zoomed in view square of asteroid Dinkenish with a yellow circle around it. There's a timeline above the image showing the dates Lucy passed near the asteorid between Sept. 3 through Sept. 22, and will eventually Lucy passes by the asteroid on Nov. 1.

NASA’s Lucy Spacecraft Continues Approach to Asteroid Dinkinesh

2 min read

Since NASA’s Lucy spacecraft first imaged the asteroid Dinkinesh on Sept. 3, 2023, Lucy has traveled over 33 million miles…

Article7 months ago

NASA’s Lucy Spacecraft Captures its 1st Images of Asteroid Dinkinesh

3 min read

NASA’s Lucy spacecraft captured its first images with a view of the main belt asteroid Dinkinesh, the first of 10…

Article8 months ago

NASA’s Lucy Asteroid Target Gets a Name

3 min read

The first asteroid to be visited by NASA’s Lucy mission now has a name. The International Astronomical Union has approved…

Article1 year ago

NASA’s Lucy Team Announces New Asteroid Target

4 min read

NASA’s Lucy spacecraft will add another asteroid encounter to its 4-billion-mile journey. On Nov. 1, 2023, Lucy will get a…

Article1 year ago

NASA’s Lucy Spacecraft Prepares to Swing by Earth

5 min read

On Oct. 16, at 7:04 a.m. EDT, NASA’s Lucy spacecraft, the first mission to the Jupiter Trojan asteroids, will skim…

Article2 years ago

NASA’s Lucy to Fly Past Thousands of Objects for Earth Gravity Assist

5 min read

Mission engineers will track NASA’s Lucy spacecraft nonstop as it prepares to swoop near Earth on Oct. 16 to use…

Article2 years ago