{"id":151076,"date":"2021-11-01T16:53:55","date_gmt":"2021-11-02T02:53:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=151076"},"modified":"2026-04-17T12:50:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T22:50:16","slug":"hi-star-i-love-lucy-satellite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2021\/11\/01\/hi-star-i-love-lucy-satellite\/","title":{"rendered":"HI<\/abbr>–STAR<\/abbr>: ‘I Love Lucy’ satellite captivates Maui teens"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"NASA's
NASA<\/abbr>\u2019s Lucy satellite will make three passes near Earth for gravitational boosts.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Two budding astronomers from Maui High School continue to hone their skills at solving the mysteries of the universe, thanks to the help of a University of Hawai\u02bbi<\/span> Institute for Astronomy<\/a> (IfA<\/abbr>) HI<\/abbr>–STAR<\/abbr> (Hawai\u02bbi<\/span> Student\/Teacher Astronomy Research<\/a>) mentor. Freshmen Wilson Chau and Holden Suzuki observed NASA<\/abbr>\u2019s recently-launched Lucy satellite on its journey to visit several Trojan asteroids. Guided by J.D. Armstrong<\/strong>, the Valley Isle teens used the Faulkes Telescope North (FTN<\/abbr>, part of the Las Cumbres Observatory<\/a> global network of telescopes) on Haleakal\u0101 to make the observations.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn the day of launch, I was viewing the NASA<\/abbr> livestream,\u201d Chau said. \u201cIt\u2019s incredible seeing the trajectory pass the livestream\u2019s viewing point.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Holden
From left, Wilson Chau and Holden Suzuki<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

NASA<\/abbr> launched its Lucy satellite on October 16. The ambitious Lucy mission\u2019s primary targets are eight Trojan asteroids\u2014primitive asteroids that share Jupiter\u2019s orbit and could shed light on the formation of the Solar System. Before arriving at its destination, the spacecraft will make three passes near Earth for gravitational boosts, and visit the main-belt asteroid, 52246 Donaldjohanson.<\/p>\n

Chau and Suzuki are not new to studying spacecraft. In 2018, they used LCO<\/abbr> telescopes to image the SpaceX Tesla. For the pair\u2019s science fair project, the two measured the color of the Tesla, which surprisingly turned out to be white. They realized that this is because the attached white booster is much larger than the red car. The project earned them top honors at the Maui County Regional Science and Engineering Fair, and high honors at the Hawai\u02bbi<\/span> State Science and Engineering Fair.<\/p>\n

In 2020, the teens teamed up again for the science fair to study unusual asteroid 2019 LD2<\/abbr><\/a>, which had been discovered by IfA<\/abbr>\u2019s Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System<\/a> (ATLAS<\/abbr>) project. Originally thought to be a new type of object\u2014a \u201cTrojan Comet,\u201d 2019 LD2 turned out to be a comet that had wandered in among the trojan asteroids. Armstrong and HI<\/abbr>–STAR<\/abbr> student, Sidney Moss, performed valuable follow-up observations that aided in confirming that the object was a comet, and not a true member of the Trojan family.<\/p>\n