NASA’s Lucy probe was launched in October 2021.
NASA’s Lucy probe, a mission to a group of asteroids near Jupiter, passed by Earth on October 16 and took some stunning photos of our planet and moon before heading back into deep space. Earlier this week, the US space agency released images taken by Lucy’s cameras Earth And Moon Because it passed closer to 224 miles (about 361 kilometers) of Earth – less than the orbit of the International Space Station (ISS).
The first of two Earth images taken by Lucy on October 13th revealed the incredible distance between Earth and the Moon. At the time, the two bodies sitting on opposite sides of the frame were about 890,000 miles (1.4 million kilometers) away from Lucy, according to a NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) press release.
The second image taken on October 15 is a close-up shot of Earth, taken at a distance of about 380,000 (620,000 km). In the image, Hadar, Ethiopia – home to a 3.2 million-year-old human ancestor fossil – is visible on the far left edge of the planet.
Lucy also took pictures of the Moon on 16 October. The images were taken when Lucy was between Earth and the Moon, about 160,000 miles (260,000 km) from the Moon, so it showed a perspective familiar to Earth-based observers.
NASA’s Lucy probe was launched in 2021. This is the first mission to the Jupiter Trojan asteroids – two clumps of space rocks that share the giant planet’s orbit.
This month’s flyby was the first of three such maneuvers that the spacecraft will use to accelerate to travel to the Jupiter Trojans. According to NASA, the spacecraft will make another close-up of our planet in 2024 before finally heading into deep space. On her 12-year journey, Lucy will fly through a record-breaking number of asteroids and survey their diversity in search of clues to better understand the formation of the Solar System.