The Lucy LOng Range Reconnaissance Imager (L’LORRI) aboard NASA’s Lucy spacecraft captured new close-ups of the lunar surface on October 16, 2022, several hours after it flew by the Earth for the gravity assist.
This image of the Moon was taken by the Lucy LOng Range Reconnaissance Imager (L’LORRI) aboard NASA’s Lucy spacecraft on October 16, 2022, between 7.5 and 8 hours after it flew by the Earth for the first gravity assist. Image credit: NASA / NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center / SwRI / JHU-APL / Tod R. Lauer, NOIRLab.
Launched on October 16, 2021, Lucy is on a 12-year-journey to study the Jupiter Trojan asteroids, an ancient population of asteroid ‘fossils’ that orbit around the Sun at the same distance as Jupiter.
It’ll be the first spacecraft to visit these remnants from the early Solar System, helping scientists hone their theories on how the planets formed 4.5 billion years ago and why they ended up in their current configuration.
Lucy takes its name from the fossilized human ancestor — called ‘Lucy’ by her discoverers — whose skeleton provided unique insight into humanity’s evolution.
To reach the Jupiter Trojans, the spacecraft’s trajectory includes three Earth gravity assists to boost it on its journey to these enigmatic asteroids. The first of these events occurred on October 16, 2022.
At its closest approach, the flyby took the spacecraft within 360 km (224 miles) of the Earth, passing below the altitude of the International Space Station.
The L’LORRI instrument aboard Lucy captured several images of the Moon’s surface between 6.5 and 8 hours after it flew by the Earth.
The first image (above) was taken while the spacecraft was between our planet and the Moon, so it shows a perspective familiar to Earth-based observers, centered near the terminator of the last quarter moon.
The view includes the rugged, heavily cratered, Southern Highlands near the bottom of the image, and the ancient, lava-filled impact basin Mare Imbrium near the top. The bright, fresh crater Copernicus is conspicuous near the left edge.
Lucy was an average of approximately 230,000 km (140,000 miles) from the Moon when this image was taken.
This image of the Moon was taken by the Lucy LOng Range Reconnaissance Imager (L’LORRI) aboard NASA’s Lucy spacecraft on October 16, 2022, between 6.5 hours after it flew by the Earth for the first gravity assist. Image credit: NASA / NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center / SwRI / JHU-APL / Tod R. Lauer, NOIRLab.
The second image, which was captured about 6.5 hours after the spacecraft flew by the Earth, is of a 1,200 km (800 mile) wide patch near the center of the last quarter moon.
Many familiar craters are visible, including the relatively fresh crater Arzachel just left of center.
The prominent fault scarp called the Straight Wall is visible cutting across the lava plains to the lower left of center.
The image was taken while Lucy was between the Earth and the Moon, approximately 260,000 km (160,000 miles) from the Moon, so it shows a perspective familiar to Earth-based observers.
This image of the Moon was taken by the Lucy LOng Range Reconnaissance Imager (L’LORRI) aboard NASA’s Lucy spacecraft on October 16, 2022, between 8 hours after it flew by the Earth for the first gravity assist. Image credit: NASA / NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center / SwRI / JHU-APL / Tod R. Lauer, NOIRLab.
The third image was captured about 8 hours after Lucy flew by the Earth for the gravity assist.
It shows a roughly 1,000-km- (600 mile) wide swath of lunar terrain, dominated by the ancient, lava-filled impact basin Mare Imbrium.
The Apennine Mountains, part of the Imbrium basin rim, which were the landing site for the Apollo 15 mission in 1971, dominate the lower-right portion of the image.
Lucy was approximately 230,000 km (140,000 miles) from the Moon when the image was taken.
Lucy captured this image of the Earth on October 15, 2022, as a part of an instrument calibration sequence at a distance of 620,000 km (380,000 miles). Image credit: NASA / NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center / SwRI / JHU-APL / Tod R. Lauer, NOIRLab.
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This article is based on text provided by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
