Peanut-shaped asteroid wobbles in 2 directions

New analysis shows that a peanut-shaped asteroid wobbles in space in 2 directions. Lucy spacecraft now continues its journey toward Jupiter’s Trojans. The post Peanut-shaped asteroid wobbles in 2 directions first appeared on EarthSky. The science-journalism coverage adds useful context, while the strongest evidential footing still comes from the underlying data, papers or institutional documentation.

This matters because Earth science becomes stronger when local observations can be placed inside a broader physical pattern that spans time and geography. The planet operates as a coupled system in which atmospheric, oceanic, cryospheric and solid-Earth processes interact across timescales from days to millions of years. A measurement that captures one variable at one location and one moment has limited interpretive value until it is embedded in the longer series and wider spatial coverage that allow natural variability to be separated from forced change. New analysis shows that a peanut-shaped asteroid wobbles in space in 2 directions. The post Peanut-shaped asteroid wobbles in 2 directions first appeared on EarthSky.

This is asteroid Donaldjohanson, as seen by NASA’s Lucy spacecraft during a flyby on April 20, 2025. Donaldjohanson is a small asteroid, about 1/2 mile (800 m) across, in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

NASA’s Lucy spacecraft confirmed it is oblong and peanut-shaped in 2025. NASA’s Lucy spacecraft flew past Donaldjohanson on April 20, 2025, and found that the 1/2 mile (800 m) diameter asteroid is elongated and shaped like a peanut.

It rotates end-over-end every 10.5 Earth days, and wobbles on its horizontal axis every 26.5 days. Lead author and deputy principal investigator for the Lucy mission, Simone Marchi, said: This is just one of many surprising things learned since NASA’s Lucy spacecraft flew by.

The broader interest lies in linking the observation to climatic, geophysical or environmental dynamics that extend well beyond the immediate event or location. Earth science is unusual in that its most important questions operate on timescales that no single research career can observe directly, making the archival record, whether in ice, sediment, rock or satellite data, as important as any new measurement. Results that can be embedded in that record, and that either confirm or challenge the patterns it reveals, carry disproportionate scientific weight.

The researchers published their peer-reviewed results about this tiny tumbling world in Science on June 18, 2026. Doi. org/hb77fc, Science X / Phys. org (@sciencex. bsky. social) 2026-06-18T17: 20: 20-04: 00 Shaped like a peanut Astronomers suspected that Donaldjohanson was oblong in shape.

Because this item comes through EarthSky as science journalism, it should be treated as contextual reporting rather than primary evidence. Good science reporting can identify why a result matters, connect it to the wider literature and make technical work readable, but the decisive evidence remains in the original paper, dataset, mission release or technical record. That distinction is especially important when a story is later repeated by aggregators, because repetition increases visibility, not evidential strength.

The next step is to place the result inside longer time series and to compare it with independent instruments and independent sites. Earth system observations gain most of their interpretive power from network density and temporal depth, not from any single measurement however precise. Model simulations that assimilate the new data will help clarify whether the observation fits comfortably within known natural variability or represents a shift that existing models do not reproduce.

Source