NASA spacecraft discovers tiny moon around asteroid during close flyby
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November 5, 2023
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The little asteroid visited by NASA's Lucy spacecraft this week had a big surprise for scientists.
It turns out that the asteroid Dinkinesh has a dinky sidekick — a mini moon.
The discovery was made during Wednesday's flyby of Dinkinesh, 300 million miles (480 million kilometers) away in the main asteroid belt beyond Mars. The spacecraft snapped a picture of the pair when it was about 270 miles out (435 kilometers).
In data and images beamed back to Earth, the spacecraft confirmed that Dinkinesh is barely a half-mile (790 meters) across. Its closely circling moon is...
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