Once upon a time, non-human creatures walked the earth. She was small in stature, about the size of a child, and her brain was much smaller.She probably communicated like a chimpanzee by growling, croaking, and laughing, but she didn’t speak. bottom. And that’s why she didn’t have a name. At least today there was nothing that we think was her name.
When her bones were found in what is now Ethiopia, scientists named her Lucy.she was the first Australopiticus afarensis Humans, the predecessors of today’s people, ever discovered.not sure if A. afarensis Our direct ancestors, or descendants from a common ancestor. Either way, her fossils, along with hundreds of others discovered later, give us clues about the origins of our own species.
Three million years after Lucy died (presumably after falling from a tree), a NASA spacecraft launched in October 2021 reached Jupiter’s region more than 100 million kilometers from Earth. The spacecraft itself is small in stature, only about the height of an adult human, but its mission is epic. To explore her two clusters of Jupiter’s gravity-carried asteroids, untouched relics of the solar system since the dawn of time.
Billions of years ago, similar asteroids collided and grew to become planets. Closer examination of Jupiter’s asteroid fossils enhances our understanding of the origins of our own planet. This is a chapter in the ancient universe’s past that is otherwise difficult to discover.
For this reason, the scientist who designed and built the spacecraft named it Lucy.
A fitting compliment. But this homage to our past is only the beginning of this astrophysical mission.
Almost all the asteroids we observe in our solar system are far from primitive. Instead, they’ve been pounded, irradiated, and otherwise altered over the years. But thanks to gravity, a special subset of asteroids are well preserved. This is because the combined gravitational forces of the Sun and Jupiter create a stable region around her 60 degrees in the giant planet’s orbit. These are her L4 and L5 points of the Sun and Jupiter. The “L” stands for Joseph Louis Lagrange, an Italian-born French polymath who mathematically elucidated the existence of such points. They are gravity traps, where objects can remain for decades. Thousands of asteroids occupy them. Some of the first discovered were named after heroes of the Greek Trojan War story, so they became known as Trojan asteroids, or simply Trojans, clustered around Trojan Point. I’m here.
A Trojan, believed to be a time capsule from the dawn of the solar system, is the target of the Lucy mission. The spacecraft will leave Jupiter’s orbit and travel first to the main Trojan cluster, L4, then return to Earth for gravity assistance, before returning to the trailing cluster, L5, for a long time. It is on a looping orbit. Each orbit will take Lucy her six years, further investigating these ancient rocks as she reaches Jupiter’s orbit.
The probe must also pass through the main asteroid belt each time. Its first encounter was planned to be a 4-kilometer-wide main-belt asteroid designated 1981 EQ5. But in 2015, not long after Lucy was approved and funded by her NASA, the asteroid was aptly named: (52246) Donald Johansson. A. afarensis Lucy in 1974.
Fitting again. But there are more.
Raphael Marshall, a planetary scientist at the Observatory de la Côte d’Azur in France, studied the orbits of half a million main belt asteroids looking for potential Lucy targets. He discovered a small asteroid about 700 meters in diameter called 1999 VD57. Lucy would have passed about 45,000 kilometers from there, but a small maneuver by the spacecraft brought him within 450 kilometers of the asteroid. This is enough distance to get a good look at its shape and surface. This will make Lucy’s first encounter with an asteroid on November 1, 2023.
Given the circumstances, the Lucy team proposed a name to the International Astronomical Union (the official custodian of the classification of astronomy), which was quickly accepted. Dinkinesh means “you are wonderful” or “a wonderful person” in Amharic, the language used by Ethiopians.
This is great because Dinkinesh It is the Ethiopian name for the human race Lucy..
Therefore, the first asteroid to be visited by the spacecraft, Lucy, was also named after Lucy herself, and the second asteroid was named after its discoverer.
Credit: Alain Nogues/Sygma/Sygma via Getty Images
I think all this is, well, great. When I read about these names for the first time, I was pretty impressed. Naming a mission after an ancient human race is already a great act by the Lucy team, connecting our past on Earth with the universe around us. The name Dinkinesh represents our respect for the Ethiopian people and our connection with their country to our origins as humans.
This is a scientist who respects not only the research content, but also the humanity behind the science.
It is our nature to try to understand our origins. All cultures have creation myths. For scientists, the origins of our planet and our species are compelling puzzles, fragments scattered across time and space, whose rarity makes them all the more valuable.
Along the way, our nature also forces us to name these things we study. This act has a deep meaning for us. Just as exploration drives us, these names help us when we seek connection with what we study. The way these relationships are built is more than gestures. It reflects what we hold dear and acknowledges what and whom we honor.
I am baffled by the idea that a scientist should always be a distant, dispassionate observer. Sure, that’s the default position when analyzing data, but that doesn’t mean it should always be the case in every aspect of your research.
There is a deep joy in progress in discovery, quest for knowledge, and pursuit of truth. Can we not be in awe of this effort? We also want to celebrate those who have helped us in this pursuit.
This is an opinion and analysis article and views expressed by the author or authors are not necessarily Scientific American.
