NASA's Lucy Probe Snaps Its Closeup of a Weirdly Shaped Asteroid

NASA’s Lucy spacecraft made a successful flyby of the second asteroid on its must-see list over the weekend, and sent back imagery documenting the elongated object’s bizarre double-lobed shape. It turns out that asteroid Donaldjohanson — which was named after the anthropologist who discovered the fossils of a human ancestor called Lucy — is what’s known as a contact binary, with a couple of ridges in its narrow neck.

Apr 22, 2025 - 01:50
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NASA's Lucy Probe Snaps Its Closeup of a Weirdly Shaped Asteroid

NASA's Lucy Probe Snaps Its Closeup of a Weirdly Shaped Asteroid

NASA’s Lucy spacecraft made a successful flyby of the second asteroid on its must-see list over the weekend, and sent back imagery documenting the elongated object’s bizarre double-lobed shape. It turns out that asteroid Donaldjohanson — which was named after the anthropologist who discovered the fossils of a human ancestor called Lucy — is what’s known as a contact binary, with a couple of ridges in its narrow neck.