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Levison HF, Marchi S, Noll KS, Spencer JR, Statler TS, Bell JF, Bierhaus EB, Binzel R, Bottke WF, Britt D, Brown ME, Buie MW, Christensen PR, Dello Russo N, Emery JP, Grundy WM, Hahn M, Hamilton VE, Howett C, Kaplan H, Kretke K, Lauer TR, Manzoni C, Marschall R, Martin AC, May BH, Mottola S, Olkin CB, Pätzold M, Parker JW, Porter S, Preusker F, Protopapa S, Reuter DC, Robbins SJ, Salmon J, Simon AA, Stern SA, Sunshine JM, Wong I, Weaver HA, Adam C, Ancheta S, Andrews J, Anwar S, Barnouin OS, Beasley M, Berry KE, Birath E, Bolin B, Booco M, Burns R, Campbell P, Carpenter R, Crombie K, Effertz M, Eifert E, Ellis C, Faiks P, Fischetti J, Fleming P, Francis K, Franco R, Freund S, Gallagher C, Geeraert J, Gobat C, Gorgas D, Granat C, Gray S, Haas P, Harch A, Hegedus K, Isabelle C, Jackson B, Jacob T, Jennings S, Kaufmann D, Keeney BA, Kennedy T, Lauffer K, Lessac-Chenen E, Leonard R, Levine A, Lunsford A, Martin T, McAdams J, Mehall G, Merkley T, Miller G, Montanaro M, Montgomery A, Murphy G, Myers M, Nelson DS, Ocampo A, Olds R, Pelgrift JY, Perkins T, Pineau J, Poland D, Ramanan V, Rose D, Sahr E, Short O, Solanki I, Stanbridge D, Sutter B, Talpas Z, Taylor H, Treiu B, Vermeer N, Vincent M, Wallace M, Weigle G, Wibben DR, Wiens Z, Wilson JP, Zhao Y. A contact binary satellite of the asteroid (152830) Dinkinesh. Nature 2024; 629:1015-1020. [PMID: 38811709 PMCID: PMC11136651 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07378-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/30/2024] [Accepted: 04/02/2024] [Indexed: 05/31/2024]
Abstract
Asteroids with diameters less than about 5 km have complex histories because they are small enough for radiative torques (that is, YORP, short for the Yarkovsky-O'Keefe-Radzievskii-Paddack effect)1 to be a notable factor in their evolution2. (152830) Dinkinesh is a small asteroid orbiting the Sun near the inner edge of the main asteroid belt with a heliocentric semimajor axis of 2.19 AU; its S-type spectrum3,4 is typical of bodies in this part of the main belt5. Here we report observations by the Lucy spacecraft6,7 as it passed within 431 km of Dinkinesh. Lucy revealed Dinkinesh, which has an effective diameter of only 720 m, to be unexpectedly complex. Of particular note is the presence of a prominent longitudinal trough overlain by a substantial equatorial ridge and the discovery of the first confirmed contact binary satellite, now named (152830) Dinkinesh I Selam. Selam consists of two near-equal-sized lobes with diameters of 210 m and 230 m. It orbits Dinkinesh at a distance of 3.1 km with an orbital period of about 52.7 h and is tidally locked. The dynamical state, angular momentum and geomorphologic observations of the system lead us to infer that the ridge and trough of Dinkinesh are probably the result of mass failure resulting from spin-up by YORP followed by the partial reaccretion of the shed material. Selam probably accreted from material shed by this event.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Keith S Noll
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA
| | | | | | | | | | - Richard Binzel
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | | | | | | | - Marc W Buie
- Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, CO, USA
| | | | - Neil Dello Russo
- Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD, USA
| | | | - William M Grundy
- Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ, USA
- Lowell Observatory, Flagstaff, AZ, USA
| | - Matthias Hahn
- Rheinisches Institut für Umweltforschung an der Universität zu Köln, Cologne, Germany
| | | | | | - Hannah Kaplan
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA
| | | | - Tod R Lauer
- NSF's National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory, Tucson, AZ, USA
| | | | - Raphael Marschall
- CNRS, Observatoire de la Côte d'Azur, Laboratoire J.-L. Lagrange, Nice, France
| | | | | | | | | | - Martin Pätzold
- Rheinisches Institut für Umweltforschung an der Universität zu Köln, Cologne, Germany
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | - Amy A Simon
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA
| | | | | | - Ian Wong
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA
- American University, Washington, DC, USA
| | - Harold A Weaver
- Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD, USA
| | - Coralie Adam
- KinetX Space Navigation and Flight Dynamics Practice, Simi Valley, CA, USA
| | | | | | | | | | | | - Kevin E Berry
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA
| | - Emma Birath
- Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, CO, USA
| | - Bryce Bolin
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA
| | - Mark Booco
- Lockheed Martin Space, Littleton, CO, USA
| | - Rich Burns
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | - Joel Fischetti
- KinetX Space Navigation and Flight Dynamics Practice, Simi Valley, CA, USA
| | | | | | - Ray Franco
- Lockheed Martin Space, Littleton, CO, USA
| | | | | | - Jeroen Geeraert
- KinetX Space Navigation and Flight Dynamics Practice, Simi Valley, CA, USA
| | - Caden Gobat
- Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, CO, USA
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | - Erik Lessac-Chenen
- KinetX Space Navigation and Flight Dynamics Practice, Simi Valley, CA, USA
| | | | - Andrew Levine
- KinetX Space Navigation and Flight Dynamics Practice, Simi Valley, CA, USA
| | | | - Tim Martin
- Lockheed Martin Space, Littleton, CO, USA
| | - Jim McAdams
- KinetX Space Navigation and Flight Dynamics Practice, Simi Valley, CA, USA
| | | | | | | | | | - Anna Montgomery
- KinetX Space Navigation and Flight Dynamics Practice, Simi Valley, CA, USA
| | - Graham Murphy
- Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD, USA
| | - Maxwell Myers
- KinetX Space Navigation and Flight Dynamics Practice, Simi Valley, CA, USA
| | - Derek S Nelson
- KinetX Space Navigation and Flight Dynamics Practice, Simi Valley, CA, USA
| | | | - Ryan Olds
- Lockheed Martin Space, Littleton, CO, USA
| | - John Y Pelgrift
- KinetX Space Navigation and Flight Dynamics Practice, Simi Valley, CA, USA
| | | | | | - Devin Poland
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA
| | - Vaishnavi Ramanan
- KinetX Space Navigation and Flight Dynamics Practice, Simi Valley, CA, USA
| | - Debi Rose
- Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, CO, USA
| | - Eric Sahr
- KinetX Space Navigation and Flight Dynamics Practice, Simi Valley, CA, USA
| | - Owen Short
- Teton Cyber Technology, Littleton, CO, USA
| | | | - Dale Stanbridge
- KinetX Space Navigation and Flight Dynamics Practice, Simi Valley, CA, USA
| | | | | | - Howard Taylor
- Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD, USA
| | - Bo Treiu
- NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC, USA
| | | | | | | | | | - Daniel R Wibben
- KinetX Space Navigation and Flight Dynamics Practice, Simi Valley, CA, USA
| | - Zach Wiens
- Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, CO, USA
| | - John P Wilson
- Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD, USA
| | - Yifan Zhao
- Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
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