Nasa: Lucy spacecraft discovers asteroid has own space rock orbiting it

Nasa recently made a very small discovery of an asteroid with its own mini-moon.

Lucy, Nasa's spacecraft, was on a mission to test scientific instruments and practice before visiting asteroids out near Jupiter.

And while visiting asteroid Dinkinesh, it found there was a tiny moon circling it.

Dinkinesh means "you are marvellous" in Ethiopia's Amharic language.

The Lucy spacecraft took images of asteroid Dinkinesh and its mini moon

The Lucy spacecraft sent data and images back to Nasa from its flyby, which confirmed the small asteroid Dinkinesh had a small space rock orbiting it.

"Dinkinesh really did live up to its name, this is marvellous," said Hal Levison, lead scientist at the Southwest Research Institute.

The discovery wasn't a total surprise as for the last few weeks - as Lucy headed towards Dinkinesh - the asteroid would vary in brightness, which is often a sign of some sort of nearby object.

Lucy will soon be on its way to study asteroids near Jupiter

Data revealed that Dinkinesh is only half a mile (790 metres) across and the mini-moon circling it is one-tenth of a mile (220 metres) across.

The flyby, which took place on 1 November, saw the Lucy spacecraft go past Dinkinesh at a speed of around 16,000 km/h.

Lucy was launched in 2021 and its main aim is to explore the Jupiter trojan asteroids in 2027.

The mission was an engineering test and scientists will now study the images and data to help prepare the spacecraft for the next up close asteroid flyby.