Sign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news about fascinating discoveries, scientific developments and more. Astronomers were in for a surprise when NASA’s Lucy mission flew past an asteroid called Dinkinesh in November and spotted a contact binary star — two smaller space rocks touching each other — orbiting the … Read more
Sign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news about fascinating discoveries, scientific developments and more. Astronomers were in for a surprise when NASA’s Lucy mission flew past an asteroid called Dinkinesh in November and spotted a contact binary star — two smaller space rocks touching each other — orbiting the … Read more
Scientists may have learned the history of the small contact binary moon orbiting asteroid 152830 Dinkineshwhich was NASA’s first cosmic stop Lucy spacecraft. That moon may have split off from its larger parent asteroid when Dinkinesh was sent through space after absorbing and re-emitting sunlight. The Lucy mission, launched in 2021, is on its way … Read more