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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)   
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                                & Michigan Tech. U.   
      
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