{"id":190927,"date":"2024-06-09T20:26:07","date_gmt":"2024-06-10T01:26:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2024\/06\/twin-moons-of-dinkinesh-nasas-lucy-unveils-a-surprising-discovery"},"modified":"2024-06-09T20:26:07","modified_gmt":"2024-06-10T01:26:07","slug":"twin-moons-of-dinkinesh-nasas-lucy-unveils-a-surprising-discovery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2024\/06\/twin-moons-of-dinkinesh-nasas-lucy-unveils-a-surprising-discovery","title":{"rendered":"Twin Moons of Dinkinesh: NASA\u2019s Lucy Unveils a Surprising Discovery"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<p><iframe style=\"display: block; margin: 0 auto; width: 100%; aspect-ratio: 4\/3; object-fit: contain;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/fGy24wrDEzY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope;\n   picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>NASA\u2019s Lucy spacecraft\u2019s recent exploration of asteroid Dinkinesh not only highlighted the asteroid\u2019s internal complexities but also led to a fascinating discovery: the formation of a double moon, Selam. This rare configuration, known as a contact binary, formed from debris orbiting Dinkinesh after a significant geological event. Credit: NASA\/SwRI\/Johns Hopkins APL\/NOIRLab.<\/p>\n<p><strong> NASA \u2019s Lucy spacecraft\u2019s November 2023 flyby of asteroid Dinkinesh revealed significant geological features indicating its internal strength and complex history. Images showed a trough, a ridge, and a contact binary satellite, Selam. These findings, suggesting that Dinkinesh responded dynamically to stress over millions of years, help scientists understand the formation and evolution of small bodies in the solar system.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Images from the November 2023 <a href=\"https:\/\/scitechdaily.com\/nasas-lucy-spacecraft-successfully-completes-first-asteroid-flyby\/\">flyby of asteroid Dinkinesh<\/a> by <a href=\"https:\/\/scitechdaily.com\/tag\/lucy-mission\/\">NASA\u2019s Lucy spacecraft<\/a> reveal intriguing details. They show a trough on Dinkinesh where a large piece \u2014 about a quarter of the asteroid \u2014 suddenly shifted, a ridge, and a separate contact binary satellite (now known as <a href=\"https:\/\/scitechdaily.com\/meet-selam-the-stellar-new-discovery-from-nasas-lucy-mission\/\">Selam<\/a>). Scientists say this complicated structure shows that Dinkinesh and Selam have significant internal strength and a complex, dynamic history.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NASA\u2019s Lucy spacecraft\u2019s recent exploration of asteroid Dinkinesh not only highlighted the asteroid\u2019s internal complexities but also led to a fascinating discovery: the formation of a double moon, Selam. This rare configuration, known as a contact binary, formed from debris orbiting Dinkinesh after a significant geological event. Credit: NASA\/SwRI\/Johns Hopkins APL\/NOIRLab. NASA \u2019s Lucy spacecraft\u2019s [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":427,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[385,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-190927","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-evolution","category-space"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190927","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/427"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=190927"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190927\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=190927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=190927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=190927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}