The NASA Probe Lucy has the first pictures of Jupiter Trojan sent to visit them in 2027 and 2028 and examine them from a distance of hundreds of thousands of kilometers. You can see time lapses of the 4 asteroids Eurybates, Polymele, Leucus and In the valley. The pictures were taken from a distance of over 530 million kilometers recorded. This distance corresponds to laut Sciencealert three times the distance between the earth and the sun
These Trojans are asteroids that share Jupiter’s orbit around the sun. They are divided into 2 groups: one flies ahead of the giant planet on its journey around the sun, the other behind.
Formation of the solar system
These positions are known as Lagrange points, in this case points L4 and L5. Although the asteroids are generally referred to as Trojans, the group located at L4 are actually Greeks and those at L5 are Trojans. Eurybates, Plolymele, Leucus and Orus are among the Greeks.
© Screenshot/ NASA/Goddard/SwRI/JHU-APL
Lucy is to examine a total of 8 of these Trojans and Greeks more closely and, among other things, determine more detailed information about their composition. The celestial bodies are made of materials that contributed to the formation of planets in the young universe. Scientists hope to learn more about the formation of the solar system.
First asteroid encounter in November
Lucy was launched in October 2021. Their first asteroid encounter is scheduled for November. In doing so, Lucy is attached to the main belt asteroid Dinkinesh fly by. On this journey she will also visit the asteroid Donaldjohanson fly by before then reaching the Jupiter-Tronajer.
In order to achieve her goals, Lucy has to perform a complex flight maneuver. It will fly past the earth several times to gain momentum. After visiting some Trojans that are ahead of Jupiter, Lucy will fly back towards Earth to switch past them to the Trojan stragglers of Jupiter.
