152830 Dinkinesh

152830 Dinkinesh
Dinkinesh and its satellite Selam imaged by the Lucy spacecraft's L'LORRI camera
Discovery[1]
Discovered byLINEAR
Discovery siteLincoln Lab ETS
Discovery date4 November 1999
Designations
(152830) Dinkinesh
Pronunciation/ˈdɪŋkɪnɛʃ/
Named after
Dinkʼinesh (Lucy fossil)
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 days)
25.239°
0° 18m 13.874s / day
Inclination2.094°
21.380°
66.711°
Known satellites1
Physical characteristics
790 m (primary)[3]
3.7387±0.0013 h[4]
0.27+0.25
−0.06[5]
Sq[6][7]
V–R = 0.455±0.025[8]
17.62±0.04 (V-band)[6][8]: L3 

152830 Dinkinesh (provisional designation 1999 VD57) is a binary main-belt asteroid about 790 meters (2,600 feet) in diameter. It was discovered by the Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research (LINEAR) survey at Socorro, New Mexico on 4 November 1999. Dinkinesh, the name borrowed from an Ethiopian word for the Lucy fossil, was the first flyby target of NASA's Lucy mission, which approached 425 km (264 mi) from the asteroid on 1 November 2023.[9] During the flyby, the Lucy spacecraft discovered that Dinkinesh has a contact-binary natural satellite, named Selam, which is 220 meters (720 ft) in diameter. Dinkinesh is the smallest main-belt asteroid explored by spacecraft yet, though some smaller near-Earth asteroids have also been explored.

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