NASA's Lucy spacecraft reveals new details about asteroid Donaldjohanson after April 2025 flyby
By
Keith Cooper
Summary
NASA's Lucy spacecraft flew past the asteroid Donaldjohanson (nicknamed "DJ") in April 2025 on its way to Jupiter's Trojan asteroids. The asteroid is a bi-lobed chunk of a larger rocky body that was shattered in a massive collision 155 million years ago. The flyby provided new details about this asteroid, which is named after the paleoanthropologist who discovered the Lucy hominin fossil in Ethiopia.
Source
Twitter / XNASA's Lucy spacecraft reveals new details about asteroid Donaldjohanson after April 2025 flybyspace.comKey quotes
· 3 pulledThis little pitstop happened on Lucy's way to a rendezvous with the Trojan asteroids that shadow Jupiter around the sun.
The asteroid 52246 Donaldjohanson, better known as 'DJ' to Lucy's mission scientists, is named after the paleoanthropologist who discovered the Lucy hominin fossil in Ethiopia.
The asteroid is a bi-lobed asteroid that is a chunk of an even larger rocky body that was smashed apart in an almighty collision 155 million years ago.
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