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NASA's Lucy spacecraft visited a little asteroid called Dinkinesh last November. The visit, scientists say, unlocks a surprisingly interesting history of the asteroid along with its companion, Selam.

NASA的露西号航天器去年十一月拜访了一个名为Dinkinesh的小行星。科学家们表示，这次拜访揭示了该小行星及其伴侣Selam的一个令人惊讶的有趣历史。

Asteroids are ancient objects from the beginning of the solar system. They offer clues about how Earth and other planets formed about 4.5 billion years ago.

小行星是太阳系形成初期的古老天体。它们提供了关于地球和其他行星在大约45亿年前如何形成的线索。

The U.S. space agency launched Lucy in 2021 on a 12-year mission to study asteroids. The mission is especially interested in Jupiter's Trojan asteroids, two groups of space rocks that lead and follow the giant planet as it orbits the sun.

美国航天局在2021年发射了露西号，执行一个为期12年的小行星研究任务。该任务特别关注木星的特洛伊小行星，这两组空间岩石在木星绕太阳运行时分别位于其前后。

On the way, Lucy flew past Dinkinesh and Selam in the inner edge of the main asteroid belt. The spacecraft observed ridges, trough structures and other features on Dinkinesh.

在途中，露西号飞过了主小行星带内缘的Dinkinesh和Selam。航天器观察到了Dinkinesh上的山脊、槽状结构和其他特征。

Dinkinesh has a diameter of nearly 720 meters. Selam is made up of two similarly sized lobes, one about 230 meters wide and the other about 210 meters. Selam orbits Dinkinesh once about every 53 hours at a distance of about 3.1 kilometers.

Dinkinesh的直径接近720米。Selam由两个大小相似的叶状体组成，一个约230米宽，另一个约210米宽。Selam以大约每53小时绕Dinkinesh一圈，距离约3.1公里。

It appears, the researchers said, that a big piece of rock broke free sometime in the past from Dinkinesh. The rock was about a quarter its total size, creating a trough on its surface and sending debris into space. Some of this debris, they said, fell back onto Dinkinesh's surface to form a ridge structure.

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