Researchers at Curtin University were asked by NASA to make observations of the Lucy spacecraft over this past weekend. Lucy is on its way to observe a handful of asteroids known as Trojan asteroids that are orbiting in two of Jupiter’s LaGrange points.

Planetary scientist Eleanor Sansom explained that Curtin’s Desert Fireball Network would capture footage during a close pass of Lucy on Sunday, October 16. She noted: After traveling at about 108,000 kilometers per hour around the Sun, Lucy will come back towards the Earth this weekend for the spacecraft’s first gravity assist since launching on October 16, last year.

The video capture was a success for the team, and we’ll have a link to their video in our show notes at DailySpace.org.

More Information

Curtin University press release

VIDEO: Lucy Flyby