This asteroid is bigger than scientists anticipated, about 5 miles (8 kilometers) long and 2 miles (3.5 kilometers) wide at its widest point — resembling an irregular bowling pin. It's so long that the spacecraft couldn't capture it in its entirety in the initial downloaded images.
Data returned over the next week should help clarify the asteroid's shape, according to NASA.
Lucy passed within 600 miles (960 kilometers) of the harmless asteroid known as Donaldjohanson on Sunday in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. It's named for the paleontologist who discovered the fossil Lucy 50 years ago in Ethiopia.
The spacecraft was launched in 2021 to study the unexplored so-called Trojan asteroids out near Jupiter. Eight Trojan flybys are planned through 2033.
___
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.