{"id":203805,"date":"2025-04-22T03:56:57","date_gmt":"2025-04-21T17:56:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/science.nasa.gov\/image-article\/nasas-lucy-spacecraft-images-asteroid-donaldjohanson\/"},"modified":"2025-04-22T03:56:57","modified_gmt":"2025-04-21T17:56:57","slug":"nasas-lucy-spacecraft-images-asteroid-donaldjohanson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=203805","title":{"rendered":"NASA\u2019s Lucy Spacecraft Images Asteroid Donaldjohanson"},"content":{"rendered":"
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4 min read<\/p>\n

NASA\u2019s Lucy Spacecraft Images Asteroid Donaldjohanson<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

In its second asteroid encounter, NASA\u2019s Lucy spacecraft obtained a close look at a uniquely shaped fragment of an asteroid that formed about 150 million years ago. The spacecraft has begun returning images that were collected as it flew approximately 600 miles (960 km) from the asteroid Donaldjohanson on April 20, 2025.<\/p>\n

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\"Gif<\/a><\/figure>
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The asteroid Donaldjohanson as seen by the Lucy Long-Range Reconnaissance Imager (L\u2019LORRI) on NASA\u2019s Lucy spacecraft during its flyby. This timelapse shows images captured approximately every 2 seconds beginning at 1:50 p.m. EDT (17:50 UTC), April 20, 2025. The asteroid rotates very slowly; its apparent rotation here is due to the spacecraft\u2019s motion as it flies by Donaldjohanson at a distance of 1,000 to 660 miles (1,600 to 1,100 km). The spacecraft\u2019s closest approach distance was 600 miles (960 km), but the images shown were taken approximately 40 seconds beforehand, the nearest ones at a distance of 660 miles (1100 km).<\/div>\n
NASA\/Goddard\/SwRI\/Johns Hopkins APL<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The asteroid was previously observed to have large brightness variations over a 10-day period, so some of Lucy team members\u2019 expectations were confirmed when the first images showed what appeared to be an elongated contact binary (an object formed when two smaller bodies collide). However, the team was surprised by the odd shape of the narrow neck connecting the two lobes, which looks like two nested ice cream cones.<\/p>\n

\u201cAsteroid Donaldjohanson has strikingly complicated geology,\u201d says Hal Levison, principal investigator for Lucy at Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, Colorado. \u201cAs we study the complex structures in detail, they will reveal important information about the building blocks and collisional processes that formed the planets in our Solar System.\u201d<\/p>\n

From a preliminary analysis of the first available images collected by the spacecraft\u2019s L\u2019LORRI imager, the asteroid appears to be larger than originally estimated, about 5 miles (8 km) long and 2 miles (3.5 km) wide at the widest point. In this first set of high-resolution images returned from the spacecraft, the full asteroid is not visible as the asteroid is larger than the imager\u2019s field of view. It will take up to a week for the team to downlink the remainder of the encounter data from the spacecraft; this dataset will give a more complete picture of the asteroid\u2019s overall shape.<\/p>\n

Like Lucy\u2019s first asteroid flyby target, Dinkinesh, Donaldjohanson is not a primary science target of the Lucy mission. As planned, the Dinkinesh flyby was a system\u2019s test for the mission, while this encounter was a full dress rehearsal, in which the team conducted a series of dense observations to maximize data collection. Data collected by Lucy\u2019s other scientific instruments, the L\u2019Ralph color imager and infrared spectrometer and the L\u2019TES thermal infrared spectrometer, will be retrieved and analyzed over the next few weeks.<\/p>\n

The Lucy spacecraft will spend most of the remainder of 2025 travelling through the main asteroid belt. Lucy will encounter the mission\u2019s first main target, the Jupiter Trojan asteroid Eurybates, in August 2027.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese early images of Donaldjohanson are again showing the tremendous capabilities of the Lucy spacecraft as an engine of discovery,\u201d said Tom Statler, program scientist for the Lucy mission at NASA Headquarters in Washington. \u201cThe potential to really open a new window into the history of our solar system when Lucy gets to the Trojan asteroids is immense.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Asteroid<\/a><\/figure>
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The asteroid Donaldjohanson as seen by the Lucy Long-Range Reconnaissance Imager (L\u2019LORRI). This is one of the most detailed images returned by NASA\u2019s Lucy spacecraft during its flyby. This image was taken at 1:51 p.m. EDT (17:51 UTC), April 20, 2025, near closest approach, from a range of approximately 660 miles (1,100 km). The spacecraft\u2019s closest approach distance was 600 miles (960 km), but the image shown was taken approximately 40 seconds beforehand. The image has been sharpened and processed to enhance contrast.<\/div>\n
NASA\/Goddard\/SwRI\/Johns Hopkins APL\/NOIRLab<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, provides overall mission management, systems engineering and the safety and mission assurance for Lucy, as well as the designing and building the L\u2019Ralph instrument. Hal Levison of the Boulder, Colorado, office of SwRI is the principal investigator. SwRI is headquartered in San Antonio and also leads the mission\u2019s science team, science observation planning, and data processing. NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, provides overall mission management, systems engineering, and the safety and mission assurance for Lucy, as well as the L\u2019Ralph instrument. Lockheed Martin Space in Littleton, Colorado, built the spacecraft, designed the orbital trajectory, and provides flight operations. Goddard and KinetX Aerospace are responsible for navigating the Lucy spacecraft. The Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, designed and built the L\u2019LORRI (Lucy Long Range Reconnaissance Imager) instrument. Arizona State University designed and built the L\u2019TES (Lucy Thermal Emission Spectrometer). Lucy is the thirteenth mission in NASA\u2019s Discovery Program, which is managed by NASA\u2019s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.<\/p>\n

By Katherine Kretke
Southwest Research Institute<\/strong><\/p>\n

Media Contact:<\/strong><\/em>
Karen Fox \/ Molly Wasser<\/em>
Headquarters, Washington<\/em>
202-358-1600<\/em>
karen.c.fox@nasa.gov<\/em><\/a>\u00a0\/\u00a0<\/em>molly.l.wasser@nasa.gov<\/em><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Nancy N. Jones<\/strong><\/em><\/a>
<\/strong>NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center<\/strong><\/em><\/a>, Greenbelt, Md.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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