Lucy’s DJ flyby uncovers water clues in an ancient inner-belt asteroid

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.