Regions on Asteroid Explored by NASA’s Lucy Mission
The IAU (International Astronomical Union), an international non -governmental research organization and a global name of denomination for celestial objects, approved the official names for the characteristics of Donaldjohanson, an inspiration from Lucy de la Nasa visited on April 20. The origins of humanity.
The asteroid was appointed in 2015 according to paleoanthropologist Donald Johanson, discoverer of one of the most famous fossils ever found by female hominine, or ancient human ancestor, nicknamed Lucy. Like the Fossil Lucy has revolutionized our understanding of human evolution, the Lucy Mission of NASA aims to revolutionize our understanding of the evolution of the solar system by studying at least eight Trojan asteroids who share an orbit with Jupiter.
Donaldjohanson, located in the main asteroid belt between the Mars and Jupiter’s orbits, was a target for Lucy because she offered an opportunity for a complete “dress rehearsal” for the main mission of Lucy, with her three scientific instruments producing observation sequences very similar to those that will perform in the Trojans.
After exploring the asteroid and saw its characteristics closely, the Lucy Science and Engineering team proposed to name the surface characteristics of the asteroid in recognition of important sites and discovery, which IAU accepted.
The smaller lobe is called Afar Lobus, after the Ethiopian region where Lucy and other hominin fossils were found. The larger lobe is named Olduvai Lobus, after the Tanzanian river gorges which also gave many discoveries of significant hinines.
The asteroid neck, Windover Collum, which joins these two lobes, is appointed according to the Archaeological site of Windover near Cape Canaveral Space Force in Florida – where the Lucy de la Nasa mission was launched in 2021. The remains and human artefacts revolutionized our understanding of the people who lived in Florida about 7,300 years ago.
Two smooth zones on the asteroid neck are named Hadar Regio, marking the specific site of Johanson discovery of the Lucy fossil, and Minatogawa Regio, after the place where the oldest known hominines in Japan were found. Rocks and craters selected on Donaldjohanson are named after notable fossils ranging from pre-Homo sapiens homes to former modern humans. IAU has also approved a coordinate system for the mapping of characteristics on this small unique world.
As of September 9, the Lucy spacecraft was nearly 300 million miles (480 million km) from the sun to its August 2027 meeting with its first Trojan asteroid called Eurybates. This places Lucy about three -quarters of the path through the main asteroid belt. Since his meeting with Donaldjohanson, Lucy has been on a cruise without going near other asteroids and without requiring maneuvers of correction of the trajectory.
The team continues to carefully monitor instruments and spaceships while it moves further from the sun in a fresher environment.
Stay listening to NASA.Gov/lucy for more updates while Lucy continues her trip to Jupiter asteroids ever explored before, and download a postcard commemorating the Donaldjohanson meeting.
By Katherine Kretke
Southwest Research Institute
Media contact:
LONNIE Shekhtman
man.shekhtman@nasa.gov
Goddard Space Flight Center of NASA, Greenbelt, MD.
