Illustration of the trojan asteroid targets of NASA's Lucy mission. Lucy will be the first space mission to explore a population of Trojan asteroids and asteroid in the main belt. The targets are Patroclus, Menoetius, Eurybates, Orus, Leucus, Polymele, and the main belt asteroid DonaldJohanson. Trojan asteroids orbit the Sun in front of and behind Jupiter, at the same distance from the Sun as Jupiter. Jupiter's mass normally scatters away all asteroids in its vicinity, but, due to the combined gravitational influences of the Sun and Jupiter, these Trojan asteroids have been trapped on stable orbits (around what is known as the Lagrange Points) for billions of years. Lucy will perform fly-bys and use remote sensors to study a number of features of the asteroids. | |
Licence : | Droits gérés |
Crédit: | Science Photo Library / NASA's Goddard Space Flight / Center Conceptual Image Lab |
Taille de l’image : | 3840 px × 2160 px |
Model Release : | Non requis |
Property Release : | Non requis |
Restrictions : | - |