52246 Donaldjohanson size and scale context

52246 Donaldjohanson is a carbonaceous main-belt asteroid that NASA’s Lucy spacecraft flew past in 2025. The encounter revealed an elongated contact binary with two lobes joined by a narrow neck. Read its scale context, comparisons, and journey links on the canonical object page.

5535 AnnefrankS-type main-belt asteroid·6.6 km

2867 ŠteinsE-type main-belt asteroid·6.83 km

52246 DonaldjohansonC-type main-belt asteroid·8.8 km

951 GaspraS-type main-belt asteroid·18.2 km

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Asteroids

2867 Šteins

Šteins is a small E-type asteroid in the main belt, shaped like a cut diamond. ESA’s Rosetta spacecraft flew past it in 2008 and revealed a body topped by a surprisingly large impact crater.

Scale fact6.83 kmmaximum extent

Object class: E-type main-belt asteroid
Composition: Iron-poor silicate rock

Asteroids

52246 Donaldjohanson

52246 Donaldjohanson is a carbonaceous main-belt asteroid that NASA’s Lucy spacecraft flew past in 2025. The encounter revealed an elongated contact binary with two lobes joined by a narrow neck.

Scale fact8.8 kmmaximum extent

Object class: C-type main-belt asteroid
Composition: Carbonaceous rock
Estimated age: ~150 million years

Asteroids

951 Gaspra

951 Gaspra is the first asteroid ever seen up close, photographed by NASA's Galileo spacecraft in 1991 on its way to Jupiter. The flyby revealed an irregular, cratered S-type body and proved that spacecraft could study asteroids directly rather than only from afar.

Scale fact18.2 kmmaximum extent

Object class: S-type main-belt asteroid
Mass: ~10 trillion tonnes
Estimated age: ~4.5 billion years
Composition: Silicate rock with metal