152830 Dinkinesh

152830 Dinkinesh (provisional designation 1999 VD57) is a small, stony main-belt asteroid 900 meters (3,000 feet) in diameter. It was discovered by the Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research (LINEAR) survey at Socorro, New Mexico on 4 November 1999. This asteroid was identified as a flyby target for NASA's Lucy mission in January 2023, which will approach 450 km (280 mi) from the asteroid on 1 November 2023.[4] Dinkinesh will be Lucy's first and smallest flyby target and it will become the smallest main-belt asteroid visited by a spacecraft yet.[4] It was identified as a target by Raphael Marschall, mission collaborator of the Nice Observatory, after Lucy had launched.[4] The asteroid does not exhibit a detectable light curve, suggesting it could either be roughly spheroidal, rotating pole-on, or rotating very slowly.[5]

152830 Dinkinesh
Discovery[1]
Discovered byLINEAR
Discovery siteLincoln Lab ETS
Discovery date4 November 1999
Designations
(152830) Dinkinesh
1999 VD57 · 2004 HJ78 · 2007 CB63[2]
main-belt[1] · (inner)
Orbital characteristics [1]
Epoch 25 February 2023 (JD 2460000.5)
Uncertainty parameter 0
Observation arc23.06 yr (8,422 days)
Earliest precovery date15 October 1999
Aphelion2.437 AU
Perihelion1.946 AU
2.191 AU
Eccentricity0.1120
3.24 yr (1,185 d)
25.239°
0° 18m 13.874s / day
Inclination2.094°
21.380°
66.711°
Physical characteristics
Mean diameter
820 m[3]
670–960 m[3]
0.26±0.09[3]
Sq,S[3]
17.40[1][2]

    Name

    Dinkinesh is the Ethiopian name for the Lucy fossil, after which the Lucy mission is named.[6] The name means "you are marvelous" in the Amharic language (ድንቅነሽ).[7][8] The name was proposed by the Lucy mission team after the asteroid was identified as a flyby target, and it was later approved and announced by the International Astronomical Union's Working Group for Small Bodies Nomenclature on 6 February 2023.[6][7]

    Orbit diagram of Lucy's flyby of Dinkinesh (1999 VD57) on 1 November 2023

    See also

    References
    1. "JPL Small-Body Database Browser: 152830 (1999 VD57)" (2022-11-05 last obs.). Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 25 January 2023.
    2. "(152830) = 2004 HJ78 = 1999 VD57 = 2007 CB63". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 25 January 2023.
    3. Bolin, B. T.; Noll, K. S.; Caiazzo, I.; Fremling, C.; Binzel, R. P.; et al. (March 2023). "Keck and Gemini spectral characterization of Lucy mission fly-by target (152830) Dinkinesh". Icarus. 400 (1): 115562. arXiv:2303.08130. doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2023.115562.
    4. Kretke, Katherine (25 January 2023). "NASA's Lucy Team Announces New Asteroid Target". NASA. Retrieved 25 January 2023.
    5. de León, J.; Licandro, J.; Pinilla-Alonso, N.; Moskovitz, N.; Kareta, T.; Popescu, M.; et al. (March 2023). "Characterisation of the new target of the NASA Lucy mission: asteroid 152830 Dinkinesh (1999 VD57)". Astronomy & Astrophysics. arXiv:2303.05918.
    6. Foust, Jeff (26 January 2023). "NASA adds asteroid flyby to Lucy mission". SpaceNews. Retrieved 26 January 2023.
    7. "WGSBN Bulletin 3, #2" (PDF). WGSBN Bulletin. International Astronomical Union. 3 (2): 22. 6 February 2023. Retrieved 6 February 2023.
    8. Kretke, Katherine (1 March 2023). "Introducing "Dinkinesh" – First Asteroid Target for NASA's Lucy Mission Gets a Name". SciTechDaily. Retrieved 2 March 2023.
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