For this selection of images, Lucy’s Instrument Pointing Platform was pointed near the constellation Orion, and the T2CAM field included the Rosette Nebula. The red, blue, and yellow boxes indicate the frames of the T2CAM, MVIC, and L’LORRI images, respectively. Credit: SwRI; 2008 file photo of night sky as seen over Fajada Butte in New Mexico, courtesy National Parks Service
Lucy, which is in the first few months of its journey to the Trojan asteroids, obtained a series of calibration images with its four visible-light cameras. The February test was much more extensive than the November test. Lucy used its platform to point at 11 different star fields to test camera performance and sensitivity, as well as the ability to point accurately in different directions.
The Terminal Tracking Cameras are one of the four cameras. The T2CAM cameras have a wide field of view, 11 degrees by 8.2 degrees, and are primarily used to automatically lock onto and track the Trojan asteroids during Lucy's close flybys. MVIC is a higher-resolution color scanning camera that can take panoramas like a mobile phone camera, but with a 8.3 degree tall field of view. Lucy will get her most detailed images of her asteroid targets with the L'lorri, a high-resolution camera with a narrow 0.29-degree-square field of view.
The test did not include Lucy's temperature mapping instrument, which requires close-up planetary targets to obtain useful data.
The faintest visible stars in this raw L’LORRI image are roughly 17th magnitude, 50,000 times fainter than the unaided human eye can see. Image brightness levels have been adjusted to enhance visibility of faint stars. The exposure time was 10 seconds. Keen observers will notice that the stars are slightly elongated in this relatively unprocessed image; the Lucy team has techniques to mitigate this effect, and the optical quality is sufficient for accomplishing the science goals of the mission. Credit: NASA/Goddard/SwRI/Johns Hopkins APL
With an exposure time of 10 seconds, the Rosette Nebula is just visible in the lower right of center of the T2CAM frame. Credit: NASA/Goddard/SwRI
The faintest visible stars in this raw L’LORRI image are roughly 17th magnitude, 50,000 times fainter than the unaided human eye can see. Image brightness levels have been adjusted to enhance visibility of faint stars. The exposure time was 10 seconds. Keen observers will notice that the stars are slightly elongated in this relatively unprocessed image; the Lucy team has techniques to mitigate this effect, and the optical quality is sufficient for accomplishing the science goals of the mission. Credit: NASA/Goddard/SwRI/Johns Hopkins APL
With an exposure time of 10 seconds, the Rosette Nebula is just visible in the lower right of center of the T2CAM frame. Credit: NASA/Goddard/SwRI
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