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NASA’s Lucy Spacecraft Successfully Encounters Asteroid Donaldjohanson
The second stop on NASA’s ambitious Lucy mission brought scientists face-to-face with asteroid 52246 Donaldjohanson. The spacecraft’s recent encounter delivered unexpected insights into the asteroid’s dimensions and unique shape.
On April 20, NASA’s Lucy spacecraft recorded a series of images of asteroid Donaldjohanson, using its LOng Range Reconnaissance Imager (L’LORRII). This imaging process captured the asteroid every two seconds, creating a time-lapse from distances ranging between 1,000 and 660 miles (1,600 to 1,100 km).
During this flyby, the spacecraft came remarkably close to the asteroid, reaching a distance of just 600 miles (920 kilometers). Situated within the inner belt of asteroids between Mars and Jupiter, Donaldjohanson was named after prominent paleontologist Donald Johanson. In 1974, Johanson co-discovered the famous fossil hominid, known as “Lucy,” which inspired both the name of this mission and the pursuit of understanding our ancient origins.
The imagery released by NASA the day following the encounter revealed that Donaldjohanson stretches 5 miles (8 km) in length—larger than previous estimates—and measures about 2 miles (3.5 km) at its widest point. The high-resolution images highlight the asteroid’s distinctive peanut-like shape, characterized by two lobes connected by a narrow neck. This structure suggests an elongated contact binary, where two bodies may have merged to form the asteroid. However, scientists expressed surprise at the configuration of the neck, which has been likened to “nested ice cream cones.” Hal Levison, the principal investigator for Lucy at Southwest Research Institute, remarked on the complexity of the asteroid’s geology, describing it as “strikingly complicated.”
Additional data from Lucy’s various instruments will be processed and made available in the coming weeks, including color images and infrared spectra. These materials are expected to shed light on Donaldjohanson’s surface features, particle sizes, and radiation levels.
Looking ahead, the Lucy mission is set to traverse the asteroid belt over the next two years, with its next significant objective being asteroid 3548 Eurybates and its moon, Queta, on August 12, 2027. Eurybates, along with the mission’s subsequent targets, consists of Trojan asteroids—those gravitationally associated with Jupiter. Over the course of its journey, Lucy aims to explore a total of five Trojans and three satellite bodies, concluding its mission after a flyby of asteroid 617 Patroclus and its companion Menoetius on March 3, 2033.
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www.astronomy.com