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                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                                2025 April 25

                           Asteroid Donaldjohanson
       Image Credit: Lucy/NASA/Goddard/SwRI/Johns Hopkins APL/NOIRLab

   Explanation: Main belt asteroid 52246 Donaldjohanson is about 8
   kilometers long and 3.5 kilometers across. On April 20, this sharp
   close-up of the asteroid was captured at a distance of about 1100
   kilometers by the Lucy spacecraft's long range camera during its second
   asteroid encounter. Named after American paleoanthropologist Donald
   Johanson, discoverer of the Lucy hominid fossil, the elongated asteroid
   was likely formed about 150 million years ago from a gentle collision
   of two smaller bodies creating its characteristic contact binary shape.
   Launched in October of 2021, the Lucy spacecraft will continue its
   travels through the main asteroid belt in 2025, but is on its way to
   explore Jupiter's swarm of Trojan asteroids. Lucy is expected to
   encounter its first Trojan asteroid target, 3548 Eurybates, in August
   2027.

                      Tomorrow's picture: light-weekend
     __________________________________________________________________

       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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                      A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
                           NASA Science Activation
                             & Michigan Tech. U.

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