NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day

April 19, 2025

Painting with Jupiter

In digital brush strokes, Jupiter's signature atmospheric bands and vortices were used to form this interplanetary post-impressionist work of art. The creative image from citizen scientist Rick Lundh uses data from the Juno spacecraft's JunoCam. To paint on the digital canvas, a JunoCam image with contrasting light and dark tones was chosen for processing and an oil-painting software filter applied. The image data was captured during perijove 10. That was Juno's December 16, 2017 close encounter with the solar system's ruling gas giant. At the time the spacecraft was cruising about 13,000 kilometers above northern Jovian cloud tops. Now in an extended mission, Juno has explored Jupiter and its moons since entering orbit around Jupiter in July of 2016.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

NASA astronaut plants symbolic oak at Prague Botanical Garden

updated on 19.04.2025

NASA astronaut Andrew Feustel visited the Prague Botanical Garden this week to take part in a symbolic tree planting as part of the Roots of Prominent Personalities project, which honors individuals who have made significant contributions to science, culture, and society.

Feustel, accompanied by his wife Indira—whose family traces its roots to the South Moravian town of Znojmo—planted a Valley Oak (Quercus lobata), a species native to both California and Central Europe.

Feustel, who completed three missions to space and logged over 225 days in orbit, is the 124th figure to be honored through the program, and only the second astronaut after Czechia’s Vladimír Remek.

Speaking at the ceremony, Feustel said he hoped the tree would serve as an inspiration for future generations interested in exploration, science, and lifelong learning.

A lasting tribute in a symbolic tree

The Valley Oak chosen for Feustel is known for its longevity and resilience. Native to California’s Central Valley, the species can grow up to 35 meters tall and live for as long as 600 years.

The tree planted at the botanical garden now stands at the edge of the North American Forest Biotope exhibit and is the garden’s only example of this particular oak.

According to the garden’s curator Tomáš Vencálek, the Valley Oak is considered an endemic species in its home region and symbolizes strength and endurance.

"All endemics deserve some degree of protection," Vencálek noted, adding that the tree’s deep-lobed leaves and massive stature make it one of the most impressive species in the oak family.

"It’s a fitting tribute for someone whose work has extended beyond our planet."

A special connection to Czechia

Feustel has longstanding ties to Czech culture through his wife and Czech friends. On his first space mission in 2009, he took with him a copy of Czech poet Jan Neruda’s Cosmic Songs.

On his later missions in 2011 and 2018, he carried the beloved Czech cartoon character Krtek (The Little Mole), and even brought a reproduction of the Terezín ghetto magazine Vedem and a drawing by its 14-year-old editor Petr Ginz, who perished in the Holocaust.

After retiring from NASA in 2023, Feustel has continued supporting scientific initiatives with links to Czechia, including the national program Czech Path to Space (Česká cesta do vesmíru).

At the tree-planting event, he expressed gratitude and reflected on the cultural exchange embedded in his career.

"Coming here to the botanical garden is, for me, actually part of my journey into space," Feustel said.

"Thanks to my wife Indira, I was able to include the Czech Republic in my missions, and thanks to our friends here in Czechia—including Jana and Vladimír Remek, who supported us on our journey and with whom we've shared many adventures—we’ve made it here today.

I’m very grateful to be able to take part in the beautiful project Roots of Personalities."

Past honorees in the Roots of Prominent Personalities project have included Václav Havel, Madeleine Albright, Miloš Forman, Petra Kvitová, and others who have made an impact both in the Czech Republic and abroad.

https://www.expats.cz/czech-news/article/nasa-astronaut-plants-symbolic-oak-at-prague-botanical-garden

https://www.facebook.com/BotanickaZahradaPraha

NASA honors Iraqi teen for discovering website security flaws

April 19, 2025

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – Muntadhar Mohammed Ahmed Saleh, an Iraqi high school student from Baghdad’s Al-Tarmia district and still under 16 years old, has earned official recognition from NASA.

This self-taught tech prodigy, passionate about programming since age 11, achieved the extraordinary feat of discovering significant security vulnerabilities on the US space agency’s website.

Currently excelling at Al-Bayariq High School for Outstanding Students, Muntadhar, nicknamed the “King of Codes,” identified two flaws.

One was a serious vulnerability potentially allowing data leaks through code injection, while the other involved an “Open Redirect” risk.

He responsibly reported his detailed findings directly to NASA.

Impressed by his skill and ethical approach, NASA sent Muntadhar an official Certificate of Thanks and Appreciation, acknowledging his “effective contribution” to strengthening their cybersecurity.

Muntadhar’s incredible accomplishment is a source of immense national pride, proving that ambition and talent flourish in Iraq, even with limited resources.

He represents the brilliant potential of Iraqi youth ready to make their mark globally.

https://www.iraqinews.com/iraq/baghdad-student-under-16-nasa-award-vulnerability/

Jesus’ crucifixion linked to lunar eclipse, according to NASA discovery — and it could pinpoint the exact day he died

April 18, 2025, 4:11 p.m. ET

It wasn’t just the heavens weeping.

A jaw-dropping discovery by NASA may lend cosmic credibility to one of the Bible’s most dramatic moments — the crucifixion of Jesus Christ — and the spooky sky show that followed.

The space agency’s astronomical models suggest that a lunar eclipse turned the moon red over Jerusalem on Friday, April 3, 33 AD — a date many scholars tie to Jesus’ death.

And that eerie celestial event? It sure sounds familiar.

“From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land,” reads one translation of Matthew 27:45 — a Gospel verse describing the surreal skies as Jesus hung on the cross.

The eclipse theory, originally floated by Oxford University researchers Colin Humphreys and W. Graeme Waddington, is now catching fire on TikTok — just in time for Good Friday.

“Christian texts mention that the moon turned to blood after Jesus’s crucifixion — potentially referring to a lunar eclipse, during which the moon takes on a reddish hue,” NASA noted, adding that their sky-tracking tech pinpointed the ancient eclipse visible in Jerusalem shortly after sunset.

For believers, it’s a striking echo of prophetic passages in the Bible.

A translation of Acts 2:20 reads: “The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.”

That passage, spoken by the Apostle Peter 50 days after the crucifixion, quotes another fire-and-brimstone forecast from the Old Testament, as Joel 2:28-31 warns:

“The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes.”

While some scholars argue those verses predicted the second coming, others — like Humphreys and Waddington — believe they described the eerie events unfolding on the day Jesus died.

Their research points to yet another chilling verse from ancient Christian texts outside the Bible’s canon.

“At his crucifixion the sun was darkened; the stars appeared and in all the world people lighted lamps from the sixth hour till evening; the moon appeared like blood,” reads a passage from the Report of Pilate — part of the New Testament apocrypha.

Humphreys and Waddington say that supports the idea that the lunar eclipse was the very one seen and recorded in ancient scripture.

They argue Peter’s quote — “the sun shall be turned into darkness” — directly references Matthew 27:45 and aligns with the three-hour blackout reported in the Gospels.

NASA’s data, they say, helps put the pieces together.

And while the Bible and science don’t always see eye to eye, this rare overlap has believers and skeptics alike doing a double-take — especially on Good Friday, the day Christians commemorate Jesus’ crucifixion.

Good Friday always falls two days before Easter Sunday, which is determined by the first full moon after the first day of spring — a system meant to align with Passover, the Jewish holiday during which Jesus is believed to have been crucified.

According to the Gospels, Jesus rose on the Sunday after Passover — and early Christians made sure Easter would always follow suit, linking the holiday not just to the Bible, but the moon itself.

This year, a heavenly nudge from NASA has some wondering: Did the skies above Jerusalem tell the story all along?

https://nypost.com/2025/04/18/science/jesus-crucifixion-linked-to-lunar-eclipse-according-to-nasa-discovery-and-it-could-pinpoint-the-day-he-died/

https://www.themirror.com/news/us-news/nasa-discovery-linked-jesus-crucifixion-1101604

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/232761602_Dating_the_Crucifixion

https://www.asa3.org/ASA/PSCF/1985/JASA3-85Humphreys.html

Station Has New Commander; Soyuz Trio Ready for Saturday Departure

April 19 2025

The International Space Station has a new commander as three Expedition 72 crew members get ready to return to Earth on Saturday.

The orbital residents staying behind will soon welcome a U.S. cargo craft and get ready for their increment’s first spacewalk.

Takuya Onishi of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) took control of the orbital outpost from Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin during a change of command ceremony on Friday afternoon.

Onnishi will officially lead the new Expedition 73 mission when Ovchinin undocks from the station’s Rassvet module aboard the Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft with NASA astronaut Don Pettit and Roscosmos cosmonaut Ivan Vagner at 5:57 p.m. EDT on Saturday.

The Earthbound trio will parachute to a landing in Kazakhstan at 9:20 p.m. the same day (6:20 a.m. on Sunday, April 20, in Kazakhstan) of Pettit’s 70th birthday.

NASA+ will broadcast Saturday’s crew farewell, undocking, and landing activities live beginning at 2 p.m.

Ovchinin and Vagner had one last research session on Friday with assistance from Flight Engineer Kirill Peskov testing the lower body negative pressure suit.

The specialized suit from Roscosmos may prevent space-caused head and eye pressure symptoms and help a crew member adjust to Earth’s gravity quicker.

Vagner also wrapped up handing over his crew responsibilities to his fellow cosmonauts while Pettit finished cleaning out his crew quarters.

Ovchinin will complete packing the Soyuz crew ship with cargo on Saturday before activating the spacecraft’s systems.

A day-and-a-half later, NASA’s SpaceX 32nd commercial resupply mission will lift off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center carrying about 6,700 pounds of new science experiments and crew supplies for the Expedition 73 crew.

Dragon will launch at 4:15 a.m. EDT on Monday and dock at 8:20 a.m. on Tuesday to the Harmony module’s space-facing port for a month long cargo mission.

Onishi and NASA Flight Engineer Jonny Kim will be on duty Tuesday monitoring Dragon’s automated arrival and docking.

NASA+ will provide live launch and docking coverage of Dragon’s 32nd cargo mission to the orbiting laboratory.

NASA Flight Engineers Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers are getting ready for the first spacewalk of Expedition 73 planned for May 1.

The duo spent Friday organizing the Quest airlock where their spacewalk will begin and checking their spacesuits’ components and systems.

Next, the duo verified the suits’ helmets, boots, and arm and leg assemblies fittings.

McClain and Ayers will spend six-and-a-half hours in the vacuum of space preparing the station for a new rollout solar array and relocating an antenna that communicates with commercial spacecraft.

Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky have finished transitioning their new crew responsibilities from their departing crewmates Vagner and Ovchinin.

Ryzhikov also spent Friday on life science activities collecting samples of mold and bacteria for analysis while Zubritsky set up and activated Earth observation gear.

https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/spacestation/2025/04/18/station-has-new-commander-soyuz-trio-ready-for-saturday-departure/

NASA Astronaut Don Pettit Soyuz MS-26 Space Station Farewells and Hatch Closing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foC3zzJrYG8

NASA Astronaut Don Pettit Soyuz MS-26 Undocking

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXzy9GahNHE

NASA Astronaut Don Pettit Soyuz MS-26 Re-entry and Landing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DmBm9gP460

A Fond Farewell: NASA’s C-130 Begins New Mission in California

Apr 18, 2025

NASA’s C-130 Hercules, fondly known as the Herc, went wheels up at 9:45 a.m., Friday, April 18, as it departed from its decade-long home at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, for the final time.

The aircraft is embarking on a new adventure to serve and protect in the state of California where it is now under the ownership of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE).

The transition of the C-130 to CAL FIRE is part of a long-running, NASA-wide aircraft enterprise-management activity to consolidate the aircraft fleet and achieve greater operational efficiencies while reducing the agency’s infrastructure footprint.

“Our C-130 and the team behind it has served with great distinction over the past decade,” said David L. Pierce, Wallops Flight Facility director.

“While our time with this amazing airframe has come to a close, I’m happy to see it continue serving the nation in this new capacity with CAL FIRE.”

The research and cargo aircraft, built in 1986, was acquired by NASA in 2015.

Over the past decade, the C-130 supported the agency’s airborne scientific research, provided logistics support and movement of agency cargo, and supported technology demonstration missions.

The aircraft logged approximately 1,820 flight hours in support of missions across the world during its time with the agency.

Additional aircraft housed at NASA Wallops will be relocated to NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, in the coming months.

https://www.nasa.gov/centers-and-facilities/wallops/a-fond-farewell-nasas-c-130-begins-new-mission-in-california/

Seeing the Universe in a New Light

April 10, 2025

A development by NASA researchers, led by Dr. Eliad Peretz, an Israeli scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, has yielded unprecedented-quality astronomical observations from ground-based telescopes.

This breakthrough stems from a system that calibrates telescopes using a laser beam emitted from a satellite, significantly reducing atmospheric disturbances when imaging distant celestial bodies.

The experiments were conducted using NASA’s LCRD satellite, launched in 2021 to test laser communication from an orbit 36,000 kilometers above Earth.

Early last year, the researchers directed the laser beam toward the Keck Telescope, a pair of 10-meter telescopes located in Hawaii.

By targeting the telescope with a beam of light from space, with known wavelengths and intensity, the scientists could precisely measure how atmospheric light scattering distorts the image at a given time and location.

This enables them to calibrate the telescope and its instruments accordingly and carry out observations of celestial objects with minimal atmospheric interference.

“Keck didn’t have the proper instrumentation for visible-light observations at all, so we had to develop that instrumentation ourselves,” Peretz told the Davidson Institute website.

In recent days, a scientific paper summarizing the initial observations using the system developed by Peretz and his colleagues—called ORKID—was published.

The researchers demonstrated the system’s advantages by comparing it to observations from the Hubble Space Telescope, which also captures visible light images, and analyzed several celestial objects.

Among other findings, they showed that the star Θ Ori C (Theta Ori C) in the Orion constellation is a binary star system.

This is the sharpest image of the star to date and the first time it has been photographed at a resolution high enough to clearly reveal that there are two stars in the constellation, not just one.

In a closer observation, the researchers focused on Io, one of Jupiter’s major moons.

They captured its volcanic surface in unprecedented detail and even managed to directly image the Prometheus volcano, showcasing the resolving power enabled by the new technique.

“We achieved images five times sharper than Hubble’s and captured a volcano about 20 kilometers in diameter from a distance of around 100 million kilometers,” Peretz emphasized.

Additional observations allowed them to identify features on the surface of the star Betelgeuse, approximately 650 light-years from Earth, whose shifting state has sparked significant scientific curiosity.

“We’re achieving image resolutions down to 15 milliarcseconds per pixel—far beyond current telescopes.

That’s equivalent to a space telescope with a 9-meter mirror, which won’t be built anytime soon—if ever,” Peretz noted. For comparison, the James Webb Space Telescope has a 6.5-meter mirror.

“These are the sharpest astronomical images we’re going to get in the coming decade—if not in the coming decades.”

Aiming High

“These observations don’t just provide impressive images—they serve as proof of concept that the technology we’ve developed has substantial scientific value,” Peretz emphasized.

“This method can be used to track changes in the state of stars and galaxies, as well as to refine measurements of gravitational lensing, which scientists use to calculate the Hubble constant—the rate of the universe’s expansion.”

Peretz and his team are currently in discussions to adapt the system for additional ground-based telescopes.

It’s already being tested at the Palomar Observatory in California, and integration is being considered for major telescopes like the VLT and ELT in Chile.

Following the success of their initial experiment, the team is preparing a proposal to NASA for the launch of a dedicated calibration satellite.

The ORCAS mission—short for Orbiting Configurable Artificial Star—will consist of two suitcase-sized satellites capable of projecting light beams in four wavelengths: two in the visible range and two in the infrared, with ground-locking capability.

The satellites would orbit Earth in a highly elliptical orbit of approximately 8,000 by 178,000 kilometers.

“The proposal has been joined by two Nobel Prize laureates in physics, John Mather and Saul Perlmutter, and if approved, we could launch the satellites around 2033,” Peretz noted.

“This would be a true revolution in astronomy.”

https://davidson.weizmann.ac.il/en/online/sciencenews/seeing-universe-new-light

https://www.ynetnews.com/health_science/article/bkeca1xylx

https://www.spiedigitallibrary.org/journals/Journal-of-Astronomical-Telescopes-Instruments-and-Systems/volume-11/issue-1/014004/ORCAS-Keck-instrument-demonstrator/10.1117/1.JATIS.11.1.014004.short

The ISS Is in the ‘Riskiest Period of Its Existence,’ NASA Safety Panel Warns

April 18, 2025

The International Space Station (ISS) has been orbiting Earth since 1998, housing groups of astronauts in the microgravity environment around 250 miles above the surface of the planet.

All of that time in space has taken a toll on its aging hardware, and the space station is due to retire within the next few years.

Until then, however, safety experts are warning of long-running issues that threaten the safety of the ISS, and the crew on board.

During a meeting of the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP) held on Thursday, members of a NASA safety panel stated that there are growing risks threatening the space station as it nears the end of its use, SpaceNews reported.

“The ISS has entered the riskiest period of its existence,” Rich Williams, a member of the panel, said during the meeting.

At the top of the list of growing risks is a leak where air has been escaping at an increasing rate from a tunnel that connects a docking port to a Russian module.

In 2019, Russia’s space agency Roscosmos reported the detection of an air leak found in the vestibule (named PrK) that connects a docking port to the Russian Zvezda module, which the space agency had launched to low Earth orbit in July 2000.

The rate of air that has been leaking from Russia’s Zvezda module had doubled from one pound of air per day in 2019 to a little over two pounds around a week before the launch of the Progress MS-26 cargo spacecraft in February 2024.

Both NASA and Roscosmos have been monitoring the air leak since then, and officials from the two space agencies are scheduled to meet later this month to update mitigation efforts for the growing safety concern, according to Williams.

A report issued in late 2024 elevated the air leak to the highest level of risk based on its likelihood and severity. In the meantime, the source of the leak remains unknown.

The astronauts on board the ISS are prepared to close the hatch to the service module when access is not required in order to minimize the amount of air lost, as well as to isolate the leak itself from the rest of the space station.

Another safety issue addressed during the meeting is the lack of a deorbit plan for the ISS in case of an emergency.

NASA is in the process of solidifying a plan to ditch the nearly one-million pound space station in 2030, sending it flying through Earth’s atmosphere to mostly burn up from the heat, with its remaining bits ending up at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean in a controlled reentry.

But as of now, NASA has no emergency plan in place to deorbit the ISS, and that’s a big problem. If NASA is forced to destroy the space station ahead of its retirement, then it increases the risk of ISS debris falling on inhabited areas.

“If there is a deorbit of the ISS before the [U.S. Deorbit Vehicle] is delivered, the risk to the public from ISS breakup debris will increase by orders of magnitude,” Williams said, according to SpaceNews.

The panel highlighted other issues with the ISS, including having enough spare parts for life support systems on board and delays with cargo deliveries. Williams blamed these issues on “ISS budget shortfall.”

“As programs near final phases, it is tempting to assume less resources will need to be available,” Williams said. “For the ISS, it is critical to maintain adequate budget and resources until the vehicle is safely reentered.”

https://gizmodo.com/the-iss-is-in-the-riskiest-period-of-its-existence-nasa-safety-panel-warns-2000591365

Universe may revolve once every 500 billion years — and that could solve a problem that threatened to break cosmology

April 18, 2025

In 1929, astronomer Edwin Hubble published a paper demonstrating that the universe is expanding. It gave rise to the Hubble constant, the number that describes how fast the universe is expanding.

But it eventually created a puzzle, called the Hubble tension, because this cosmic expansion differs depending on what cosmic objects are used to measure it.

A new mathematical model could resolve the Hubble tension by assuming the universe rotates.

The new research, published in March in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, suggests that our universe completes one revolution every 500 billion years.

This ultraslow rotation could resolve the discrepancy between different measurements of the Hubble constant.

"The standard concordance cosmological model has some wrinkles," study co-author István Szapudi, an astronomer at the Institute for Astronomy at the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, told Live Science in an email.

"A slow rotation of the universe could solve the Hubble puzzle."

Astronomers measure the universe's rate of expansion in a few ways. One involves looking at supernovas — the explosive deaths of giant stars — and measuring how quickly these supernovas recede.

The other method utilizes the cosmic microwave background, the radiation present 380,000 years following the Big Bang. However, these two measurements differ by about 10%.

The idea of a rotating universe isn't new; mathematician Kurt Gödel introduced the idea in a 1949 paper published in the journal Reviews of Modern Physics.

Other researchers, like Stephen Hawking, have also explored this theory. In the new study, the team applied the rotation to the Hubble tension.

Because all celestial objects — including planets, stars, galaxies and black holes — rotate, this behavior naturally extends to the universe as a whole, the study authors proposed.

"Much to our surprise, we found that our model with rotation resolves the paradox without contradicting current astronomical measurements," Szapudi said.

The proposed glacial speed at which the universe may rotate is too slow to detect, but it would still affect the universe's expansion rate and does not require new physics.

However, the model only incorporated some of the physics thought to be at play. "We use Newtonian physics with some input from General Relativity," Szapudi said. "A complete [General Relativity] treatment would be desirable."

He also explained that their work assumes the universe is uniform and did not vary in density as it evolved. In future investigations, the team will contrast the rotating-universe model against other cosmological models.

https://www.livescience.com/space/cosmology/universe-may-revolve-once-every-500-billion-years-and-that-could-solve-a-problem-that-threatened-to-break-cosmology

https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/538/4/3038/8090496

https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.15.3.168

Ivanka Trump Wants To Be Sent To Space On Bezos Flight

UpdatedApril 18, 2025 2:24 PM EDT

Ivanka Trump wants to be sent to space.

The daughter of President Trump has reportedly signed up to be a passenger on one of Jeff Bezos's upcoming Blue Origin space trips.

The flights have been all the talk in recent days after Katy Perry, Gayle King, and Jeff Bezos's fiancée Lauren Sanchez were part of the first all-female trip "to space," this past Monday.

Perry in particular, made headlines after a "source close to her" had a public spat with Wendy's social media account, who sent out a number of hilarious tweets mocking her.

The "source" told People that Katy deserved an apology, as did all women for Wendy's "blatantly inappropriate" comments.

BEZOS AND MUSK LEAD SPACE FLIGHTS

Fortunately for Ivanka, she has plenty of thick skin after having liberal Democrats try to unsuccessfully tear down her family throughout the last couple of years.

(Although we're not sure how her dad will react going on Bezos's flight considering his buddy Elon Musk also has a commercial space flight program called SpaceX!)

Unlike Katy Perry however, who may or may not have taken her space trip earlier this week for clout (or to help struggling ticket sales), Ivanka has always shown an affection towards NASA and the space program.

"I think I can speak for all of us here to say you inspire us all. You actually have my dream job. I always wanted to be an astronaut, and I always wanted to go to space.

You are fulfilling my dream up there," the First Daughter told a crew on board the International Space Station while visiting NASA's Mission Control Center in 2008.

PRESIDENT TRUMP WANTS TO ADVANCE THE SPACE INDUSTRY

Make no mistake about it, the space flight race between Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos is gaining momentum, and the more big-name or even regular Americans who are able to go on the trip will only propel awareness of not only their flights but the space engineering industry around them.

In addition to Ivanka Trump, other possible celebrities who might one day make the voyage include Tom Cruise, and even Kim Kardashian - who, The U.S. Sun reported was asked along with her mother Kris Jenner to be on board this week's all-female flight.

If you thought Katy Perry had a rough time with trolling memes, just wait until Kim Kardashian goes on the trip - talk about content!?

For now, the most obvious choice to take one of the trips would be Ivanka, both for her love of the space industry but also the fact that President Trump has also shown interest in mankind's advancements towards Mars and more.

https://www.outkick.com/culture/ivanka-trump-wants-sent-space-bezos-flight

NASA's Lucy probe will fly by the asteroid Donaldjohanson on Easter Sunday

April 19, 2025

Easter Sunday certainly won't be a day of rest for the astronomy community.

All eyes will be on NASA's asteroid-studying Lucy spacecraft, which is due to have a close encounter at 1:51 p.m. EDT (1751 GMT) on April 20, 2025.

Launched in 2021, Lucy is on a 12-year journey to the orbit of Jupiter, during which the probe will perform flybys of eight Trojan asteroids in a quest to learn about the origins of the solar system, searching for elements that could spark the rise of life.

But before Lucy gets there, the spacecraft will have time for a few dress rehearsals.

The first was a flyby of the asteroid Dinkinesh on Nov. 1, 2023. This coming Sunday, Lucy will zip past her second target, the asteroid Donaldjohanson.

Lucy will pass by the asteroid at a distance of about 620 miles (1,000 kilometers), test its science instruments in the process.

Those tools include L'Ralph, a color camera and an infrared imaging spectrometer; L'LLORI, the high-resolution Lucy Long Range Reconnaissance Imager; and L'TES, the far-infrared Lucy Thermal Emission Spectrometer.

"We're going to observe [Donaldjohanson] as if it was one of the Trojan asteroids, because we wanted to have a complete practice run," Arizona State University professor Phil Christensen, who designed L'TES, said in a video interview.

The goal, he shares, is to figure out the asteroid's composition. Lucy and Donaldjohanson are connected by far more than their upcoming physical proximity.

The NASA mission was named after the three-million-year-old fossil australopithecine skeleton discovered in Ethiopia 1974, which contributed to our understanding of human evolution.

And who discovered those bones? Paleoanthropologist Donald Johanson, founder of Arizona State University’s Institute of Human Origins.

Johanson spoke with Christensen during the video interview to discuss the Lucy mission, and Christensen had one very important question to ask.

If, as scientists predict, a secondary asteroid is discovered during the Donaldjohanson flyby — asteroids often travel in pairs — what would Johanson want to name it?

"Oh, I'm going to have to give that some real thought," said Johanson.

https://www.space.com/the-universe/asteroids/nasas-lucy-probe-will-fly-by-the-asteroid-donaldjohanson-on-easter-sunday