While NASA’s Lucy spacecraft was on a mission to visit Jupiter’s ancient Trojan asteroids, it did take some time during its journey to capture some sharp images of its home planet. NASA also shared these images and reminded us how lonely our planet is.
A black and white image taken on October 15 shows Earth against the dark backdrop of space. Lucy took the image from a distance of 620,000 kilometers. “In the upper left corner of the image is a view of Hadar, Ethiopia, home to the 3.2 million-year-old human ancestor fossil that gave the spacecraft its name,” NASA said in a statement.
Lucy’s Terminal Monitoring Camera (T2CAM) system captured the Earth image during a device calibration sequence. When it truly begins its mission, the camera system is intended to help the spacecraft track the asteroids it will visit.
NASA shared a second image showing both the Earth and the Moon as seen by Lucy on October 13 from a distance of 1.4 million kilometers. Planet and Moon can be seen very small as they look at each other through a black space between them.
The images came from a pivotal moment in Lucy’s journey, when she headed to Earth for the first of three planned gravity boosts. “These Earth-crossing flights give Lucy the speed needed to reach Trojan asteroids—small objects orbiting the sun at the same distance as Jupiter,” NASA said.
Lucy will continue this journey for a long time. Launched in late 2021, the spacecraft’s primary mission will take 12 years. NASA likens the asteroids it will study to fossils that will offer scientists a way to study the formation of the solar system.
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