Lucy’s DJ flyby uncovers water clues in an ancient inner-belt asteroid
TL;DR
NASA’s Lucy spacecraft’s April 2025 flyby of the bi-lobed inner-belt asteroid 52246 Donaldjohanson (DJ) revealed iron‑bearing phyllosilicates indicating past liquid water and suggested DJ originated from a larger parent body that fractured about 155 million years ago; the findings, published in Science, help explain how water and organics were distributed in the early solar system as Lucy continues toward six Jupiter Trojan targets.
Topics:sciencespace-exploration#aqueous-alteration#donaldjohanson#inner-asteroid-belt#lucy-mission#phyllosilicates#space-exploration
- Juicy new details emerge about an asteroid NASA's Lucy spacecraft flew by last year Space
- NASA’s Lucy mission reveals an asteroid’s hidden history Scientific American
- NASA’s Lucy Reveals Wobbling, Peanut-Shaped Asteroid NASA Science (.gov)
- NASA reveals peanut-shaped 155 million-year-old asteroid wobbles in space Yahoo
- NASA Flyby Reveals Violent Origin of Weird Peanut-Shaped Asteroid Gizmodo
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