NASA’s Lucy mission is all set to make its first encounter with a small asteroid dubbed Dinkinesh on November 1.
The asteroid, which is located in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, was discovered in 1999. The spacecraft will reach the asteroid’s surface at a distance of 265 miles (425 kilometers) during its close flyby.
The mission’s flyby has been bolstered by the utilization of 13-year-old infrared data from NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE).
Fresh measurements of Dinkinesh
University of Arizona researchers utilized observational data from the WISE satellite, which scanned Dinkinesh in 2010. On December 14, 2009, the mission was launched with the goal of creating a complete infrared map of the whole cosmos.