Lucy Took This Picture of Earth as it was Making its Gravity Assist Maneuver

Every day we receive picture postcards from the robotic travelers that we have sent out to explore our Solar System. We usually get to see comets or planets. Sometimes we get to look ourselves in the eye.

A couple of amazing images of our home planet were taken by the Lucy spacecraft as it was approaching Earth for the first of three slingshot gravity assists.

Lucy's Terminal Tracking Camera (T2CAM) system, a pair of identical cameras, is responsible for tracking the asteroids during Lucy's high speed flybys. The International Space Station was not the only one that Lucy came close to. Lucy was seen in Western Australia on October 16th.

The moon and Earth are shown in the second photo, which was taken on October 13, 2022. The Moon is less reflective than the Earth, so you need to pay attention to it. The images are part of an instrument calibration sequence.

Lucy was launched one year ago on October 19th. Lucy will return to Earth for a second gravity assist when it is placed on a two-year orbit. The second assist will allow Lucy to cross the main asteroid belt and observe the asteroid DonaldJohanson. Lucy will fly past a number of asteroids, including Eurybates and its satellites. Lucy will return to Earth for a third gravity assist in the year 2030. This is the most visited tour for a single vehicle.

The view of Earth in the first image includes a view of Hadar, Ethiopia, where theLucy hominin fossils were found. The name Lucy was chosen because study of the trojans could reveal the fossils of planet formation in the early history of the Solar System.

There are larger versions of the images.