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NASA's Lucy spacecraft visited a little asteroid called Dinkinesh last November.
美国国家航空航天局的露西号航天器于去年11月访问了一颗名为“丁基内什”的小行星。
The visit, scientists say, unlocks a surprisingly interesting history of the asteroid along with its companion, Selam.
科学家们称，这次访问揭开了这颗小行星及其同伴塞拉姆（Selam）令人惊讶的有趣历史。
Asteroids are ancient objects from the beginning of the solar system.
小行星是太阳系开始时便存在的古老天体。
They offer clues about how Earth and other planets formed about 4.5 billion years ago.
它们提供了有关地球和其他行星大约在45亿年前形成的线索。
The U.S. space agency launched Lucy in 2021 on a 12-year mission to study asteroids.
美国航天局于2021年发射了露西航天器，进行一项为期12年的研究小行星的任务。
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.
这项任务对木星上的特洛伊小行星特别感兴趣，这两组太空岩石在木星绕太阳运行的过程中引领并且追随着这颗巨大的行星。
On the way, Lucy flew past Dinkinesh and Selam in the inner edge of the main asteroid belt.
在途中，露西在内侧主小行星带边缘掠过了丁基内什和塞拉姆小行星。
The spacecraft observed ridges, trough structures and other features on Dinkinesh. Dinkinesh has a diameter of nearly 720 meters.
该航天器在丁基内什上观察到山脊、槽状结构和其他特征。丁基内什的直径近720米。
Selam is made up of two similarly sized lobes, one about 230 meters wide and the other about 210 meters.
塞拉姆由两个大小相似的裂片组成，一个宽约 230 米，另一个宽约 210 米。
Selam orbits Dinkinesh once about every 53 hours at a distance of about 3.1 kilometers.
塞拉姆大约每 53 小时绕丁基内什轨道运行一次，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.
研究人员表示，似乎在过去的某个时候，一大块岩石从丁基内什上脱落了。
The rock was about a quarter its total size, creating a trough on its surface and sending debris into space.
这块岩石约为其总体积的四分之一，在其表面形成了一个凹槽，碎片则飞入太空。
Some of this debris, they said, fell back onto Dinkinesh's surface to form a ridge structure.
研究人员表示，其中一些碎片又落回了丁基内什的表面，形成了一个山脊结构。
Other materials came together to form Selam, becoming what is called a contact-binary moonlet.
其他物质聚集在一起形成了塞拉姆，成为所谓的接触双星卫星。
Katherine Kretke, from the Southwest Research Institute in Colorado, is a co-writer of the study published in Nature.
该研究发表在《自然》杂志上，来自科罗拉多州西南研究所的凯瑟琳·克雷克则是这项研究的合著者。
She said that “a contact-binary is when it appears that a single body is composed of two objects that collided gently enough not to become disrupted."
她谈到，“接触双星是指，看起来单一星体似乎由两个物体组成，二者碰撞得足够轻柔，没有遭到破坏。”
Kretke said they are common in the solar system, but Selam was “the first time a contact-binary has been observed orbiting another asteroid.”
克里克表示，接触双星在太阳系中很常见，但 "塞拉姆 "是 "首次观测到接触双星绕另一颗小行星运行"的小行星。
Simone Marchi is another co-writer of the study.
西蒙尼·马尔基是这项研究的另一位合著者。
He said, "A planet like Earth formed by the accumulation of countless small bodies.
他说：“像地球这样的行星是由无数小天体堆积而成的。”
Understanding the properties of small asteroids such as Dinkinesh and Selam helps us to have a better picture of the earliest phases of planet formation.
理解像“丁基内什”和“塞拉姆”这样的小行星的特性，有助于我们更好地描绘行星形成的最初阶段。
NASA's spacecraft was named for the Ethiopian fossil of the extinct human relative Australopithecus called “Lucy”.
美国国家航空航天局的航天器是以埃塞俄比亚已灭绝的人类近亲南方古猿化石“露西”命名的。
That fossil has provided information about early human beings, much like asteroids provide knowledge of planetary formation.
那块化石提供了有关早期人类的信息，就像小行星提供了有关行星形成的知识一样。
Dinkinesh is the Ethiopian name for the Lucy fossil, meaning "you are marvelous" in the Amharic language.
“丁基内什”是露西化石的埃塞俄比亚名字，在阿姆哈拉语中意为“你太了不起了”。
Selam, the Ethiopian name for another Australopithecus fossil, means "peace" in Amharic.
塞拉姆，是另一个南方古猿化石的埃塞俄比亚名字，在阿姆哈拉语中意为“和平”。
Lucy will next visit the asteroid Donaldjohanson in 2025 in the main asteroid belt.
露西将在2025年访问主小行星带中的小行星唐纳德·约翰森小行星。
The spacecraft is expected to visit 11 asteroids in total.
该航天器预计将总共访问11颗小行星。
I’m Dan Novak.
我是丹·诺瓦克。
