NASA's Lucy Probe Captures First Full Image of Donaldjohanson Asteroid

NASA has released the first full image of the Donaldjohanson asteroid nearly three months after the Lucy spacecraft completed its second flyby. The pictures were taken by the probe's L'LORRI imager a few minutes before its closest approach to the peanut-shaped space rock on April 20. Astronomers have learned that the asteroid measures eight kilometers long and 3.5 kilometers wide, with two lobes joined by a narrow neck and rotates very slowly. Lucy's mission will begin when it reaches the Trojan asteroids in Jupiter's orbit two years from now.

The spacecraft, currently in a quiet cruise period, is moving away from the Sun at 50,000 km per hour toward a cooler and dimmer region of the outer solar system. The probe's first encounter will be with the asteroid Eurybates in August 2027. Lucy will conduct four encounters, observing at least six asteroids including two satellites discovered by the mission team in less than 15 months.

According to the source: Mashable India.