Beyond the main asteroid belt, alongside the gargantuan planet Jupiter, hundreds of thousands of unexplored worlds, each smaller than 140 miles across, hold precious secrets of our solar system’s birth.

A new NASA mission called Lucy launched October 16 from Cape Canaveral, Florida, to embark on a voyage to study these asteroids, known as the Jupiter Trojans. During the 12-year, four-billion mile journey, Lucy will periodically dip into two swarms of asteroids that lead and trail Jupiter as it orbits the sun, flying by a total of seven Trojans—as well as a bonus eighth asteroid in the main belt, between Mars and Jupiter.

“Lucy will explore a region in our solar system never explored before,”