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The asteroid targets of this NASA mission are turning out to be very strange | Space

Related: Meet the 8 asteroids NASA’s Lucy spacecraft will visit

…  Two Lucy targets in particular stand out to Buie: Polymele, which the spacecraft will fly past in September 2027, and Leucus, slated for an April 2028 flyby.Occultation work has already offered scientists two surprises about Polymele. Astronomers detected a small, as-yet-unnamed moon orbiting Polymele during occultation observations gathered in March. And the outline revealed so far suggests that the main rock is strange all on its own. “It’s actually a kind of hamburger shape, a very oblate object,” Buie said.

Meanwhile, Leucus seems to be missing a chunk of its southern side. “That one could be duking it out with Polymele for the award for the strangest object we’re gonna see,” Buie said. “Leucus is just a bizarre shape and I can’t wait to get there and take a look at this one up close.“  …