Donald johanson lucy video camera
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Image credit: Southwest Research Institute.
“From a distance of 70 million km (45 million miles), Donaldjohanson is still dim, though it stands out clearly in this field of relatively faint stars in the constellation of Sextans,” the researchers said.
“Celestial north is to the right of the frame, and the 0.11-degree field of view would correspond to 85,500 miles (140,000 km) at the distance of the asteroid.”
“In the first of the two images, another dim asteroid can be seen photobombing in the lower right quadrant of the image.”
“However, just as the headlights of an approaching car often appear relatively stationary, Donaldjohanson’s apparent motion between these two images is much smaller than that of this interloper, which has moved out of the field of view in the second image.”
According to the scientists, Donaldjohanson is named for the anthropologist Donald Johanson, who discovered ‘Lucy’ — a 3.18-million-year-old specimen of Australopithecus afarensis.
It appears to be an elongated contact binary, which occurs when an asteroid is formed by two objects coming together. Eurybates and the rest of Lucy’s future targets are Trojan asteroids, a family of asteroids gravitationally linked with Jupiter. During this leg of the mission, Lucy will encounter a total of five Trojans and three satellite objects.
The asteroid was named in honor of the paleoanthropologist who discovered the Lucy fossil in 1974, rewriting the textbooks on human origins.
Donaldjohanson is a member of the Erigone asteroid family, created about 150 million years ago when the large asteroid 163 Erigone was pummeled in a collision. Credit: NASA/Goddard/SwRI/Johns Hopkins APL
- NASA’s Lucy spacecraft performed a close encounter with asteroid 52246 Donaldjohanson on April 20, approaching within 600 miles (920 kilometers) within the inner asteroid belt.
- Initial imagery from the Lucy LOng Range Reconnaissance Imager (L’LORRII) revealed Donaldjohanson is larger than anticipated (5 miles long, 2 miles wide) and exhibits a distinctive "peanut shape," suggesting an elongated contact binary with unexpectedly complex geological characteristics.
- Forthcoming data from Lucy’s other instruments, including color images and infrared spectra, will provide insights into the asteroid’s surface composition, particle size, and radiation exposure.
- The Lucy mission will proceed with its primary objective of exploring Trojan asteroids gravitationally linked with Jupiter, with its next target, 3548 Eurybates, scheduled for August 2027, and mission conclusion set for March 2033.
NASA’s Lucy spacecraft visited the asteroid 52246 Donaldjohanson on Sunday, April 20, coming within 600 miles (920 kilometers) of the object located in the inner region of the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
The asteroid was named after the paleontologist Donald Johanson, who in 1974 co-discovered the first identified example of previously unknown type of hominid.
Image credit: NASA / Goddard / SwRI / Johns Hopkins APL.
Donaldjohanson is a carbonaceous asteroid approximately 4 km (2.5 miles) in diameter.
First discovered on March 2, 1981 by the American astronomer Schelte Bus at the Siding Spring Observatory, it orbits within the inner regions of the main asteroid belt.
NASA’s Lucy spacecraft will pass within 960 km (596 miles) of Donaldjohanson on April 20.
“This second asteroid encounter for Lucy will serve as a dress-rehearsal for the spacecraft’s main targets, the never-before-explored Jupiter Trojan asteroids,” members of the Lucy team said in a statement.
“The spacecraft already successfully observed the main-belt asteroid Dinkinesh and its moon, Selam, in November 2023.”
These new images captured by the Lucy LOng Range Reconnaissance Imager (L’LORRI) instrument.
This illustration shows NASA’s Lucy spacecraft passing one of the Trojan asteroids near Jupiter.
Lucy slowly slews to track DJ.
Lucy slowly slews to track DJ.
Simulation of a detailed scan of DJ.
Credits
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NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab
Missions
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This page was originally published on Monday, April 14, 2025.
Peanut-shaped surprise for Lucy in asteroid flyby
NASA’s Lucy spacecraft captured asteroid 52246 Donaldjohanson in a video on April 20. Using the Lucy LOng Range Reconnaissance Imager (L’LORRII), it imaged the asteroid every two seconds in a time-lapse spanning vantage points from a distance of 1,000 to 660 miles (1,600 to 1,100 km).
The Lucy mission is named for the fossil.
“Lucy will continue to image Donaldjohanson over the next two months as part of its optical navigation program, which uses the asteroid’s apparent position against the star background to ensure an accurate flyby,” they said.
Lucy Flyby of Asteroid Donaldjohanson: Animations
- Released Monday, April 14, 2025
Close up of Lucy's APP swiveling to keep DJ in frame.
NASA’s Lucy mission is heading to the Jupiter Trojans – an unexplored population of asteroids considered to be the fossils of planetary formation.
They revealed that the asteroid is 5 miles (8 km) long — bigger than scientists expected — and 2 miles (3.5 km) at its widest point.
The images also revealed Donaldjohanson’s interesting peanut shape, with two lobes connected by a narrow neck. “Asteroid Donaldjohanson has strikingly complicated geology,” said Hal Levison, principal investigator for Lucy at Southwest Research Institute, in the release.
Information from Lucy’s other instruments will be downloaded from the craft and processed within the next couple of weeks.
This page was last updated on Friday, April 4, 2025 at 1:36 PM EDT.
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NASA’s Lucy mission uncovered an asteroid moon that is actually two in oneNASA’s Lucy spacecraft will fly by the small asteroid Donaldjohanson on April 20, 2025.
By blinking between images captured by NASA’s Lucy spacecraft on February 20 and 22, 2025, this animation shows the perceived motion of Donaldjohanson relative to the background stars as the spacecraft rapidly approaches the asteroid.
Earth-based observations suggest that it is carbon-rich, has an average diameter of about 4 kilometers, and spins on its axis extremely slowly, giving it a 251-hour “day.” Shortly after the flyby, Lucy will deliver the first close-up views of Donaldjohanson, bringing to light a surviving remnant of the solar system’s chaotic past.
DonaldJohanson 3D model turntable.
Lucy's POV of DJ during the flyby.
It will end its mission after flying by asteroid 617 Patroclus and its satellite Menoetius on March 3, 2033.
RELATED:Surprise! They named the specimen “Lucy,” which is what the mission is named after. But it could be more complicated than that, as scientists were surprised by the shape of the neck, which resembles two nested ice cream cones, according to a NASA news release.
Like their namesakes, the mission and this asteroid could help us understand more about our origins.
The day after the encounter, NASA released images of Donaldjohanson taken by the Lucy LOng Range Reconnaissance Imager (L’LORRII), the craft’s high-resolution camera. This will include color images and infrared spectra that could yield clues to Donaldjohanson’s surface composition, particle size, and level of radiation.
The Lucy mission will spend the next two years traveling through the asteroid belt, arriving at its next target Aug.
12, 2027: the asteroid 3548 Eurybates and its satellite, Queta. Along the way, Lucy is traveling through the main asteroid belt, on course to fly past 52246 Donaldjohanson on April 20, 2025.