Lucy got its first view of asteroid Dinkinesh | See pic

NASA's asteroid hunter Lucy has captured its first view of the main belt asteroid Dinkinesh. It is the first of 10 asteroids that the spacecraft will visit on its 12-year trip.

The above two images were captured by the spacecraft on September 2 and September 5, respectively, while it was 14 million miles (23 million km) away from the half-mile-wide asteroid.

Lucy's locked in. 🔒The #LucyMission got its first view of Dinkinesh, the first of 10 asteroids the spacecraft will visit on its 12-year trip.Here are images Lucy took from 14 million miles (23 million km) away. Close approach expected Nov 1, 2023: https://t.co/px3ql18rdc pic.twitter.com/ip3VR11l0S

— NASA (@NASA) September 11, 2023

Dinkinesh was first discovered in 1999 and it will be the smallest main belt asteroid ever explored. Scientists believe that the asteroid may reveal yet another aspect of the evolutionary history of our solar system.

According to NASA, Lucy will continue toward asteroid Dinkinesh until its closest approach of 265 miles (425 km) on November 1, 2023. During this encounter, the mission team will test out spacecraft systems and procedures, focusing on its terminal tracking system, designed to keep the asteroid within the instruments' fields of view as the spacecraft flies by at 10,000 mph (4.5 km/s).

Over the next months, Lucy will continue to image the asteroid over the next months. Dinkinesh will remain an unresolved point of light during the long approach and won't start to show surface detail until the day of the encounter.

Lucy is the first space mission designed to study the Trojan asteroids associated with Jupiter. These asteroids are thought to be remnants of the primordial material that formed the outer planets.

The mission is expected to evolutionize our understanding of planetary origins and the formation of the solar system.