A pre-flyby view on the origin of asteroid Donaldjohanson, a target of the NASA Lucy mission

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Main Authors: Marchi, Simone, Vokrouhlický, David, Nesvorný, David, Bottke, William F., Ďurech, Josef, Levison, Harold F.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Marchi, Simone
Vokrouhlický, David
Nesvorný, David
Bottke, William F.
Ďurech, Josef
Levison, Harold F.
author_facet Marchi, Simone
Vokrouhlický, David
Nesvorný, David
Bottke, William F.
Ďurech, Josef
Levison, Harold F.
contents The NASA Lucy mission is scheduled to fly-by the main belt asteroid (52246) Donaldjohanson on April 20, 2025. Donaldjohanson (DJ hereafter) is a member of the primitive (C-type class) Erigone collisional asteroid family located in the inner main belt in proximity of the source regions of asteroid (101955)~Bennu and (162173)~Ryugu, visited respectively by OSIRIS-REx and Hayabusa2 missions. In this paper we provide an updated model for the Erigone family age, and discuss DJ evolution resulting from non-gravitational forces (namely Yarkovsky and YORP), as well as its collisional evolution. We conclude the best-fit family age to be $\sim 155$~Myr, and that, on such timescales, both Yarkovsky and YORP effects may have affected the orbit and spin properties of DJ. Furthermore, we discuss how the NASA Lucy mission could provide independent insights on such processes, namely by constraining DJ shape, surface geology and cratering history.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2503_14148
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle A pre-flyby view on the origin of asteroid Donaldjohanson, a target of the NASA Lucy mission
Marchi, Simone
Vokrouhlický, David
Nesvorný, David
Bottke, William F.
Ďurech, Josef
Levison, Harold F.
Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
The NASA Lucy mission is scheduled to fly-by the main belt asteroid (52246) Donaldjohanson on April 20, 2025. Donaldjohanson (DJ hereafter) is a member of the primitive (C-type class) Erigone collisional asteroid family located in the inner main belt in proximity of the source regions of asteroid (101955)~Bennu and (162173)~Ryugu, visited respectively by OSIRIS-REx and Hayabusa2 missions. In this paper we provide an updated model for the Erigone family age, and discuss DJ evolution resulting from non-gravitational forces (namely Yarkovsky and YORP), as well as its collisional evolution. We conclude the best-fit family age to be $\sim 155$~Myr, and that, on such timescales, both Yarkovsky and YORP effects may have affected the orbit and spin properties of DJ. Furthermore, we discuss how the NASA Lucy mission could provide independent insights on such processes, namely by constraining DJ shape, surface geology and cratering history.
title A pre-flyby view on the origin of asteroid Donaldjohanson, a target of the NASA Lucy mission
topic Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.14148