”Our Earth is peppered with some 20,000 tons of stardust a year.” Children’s science book. 1947.
Some of these posts have gone viral, on Tumblr and beyond, so much so that it’s easy to think that somehow they just got there by themselves. They didn’t. Like this one. It started on Nemfrog.
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nasa:
In 2013, researchers published a shape model of asteroid Bennu based on years of observations from Puerto Rico’s Arecibo Observatory. Their model depicted a rough diamond shape. Five years later, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft has reached the asteroid, and data obtained from spacecraft’s cameras corroborate those ground-based telescopic observations of Bennu.
The original model closely predicted the asteroid’s actual shape, with Bennu’s diameter, rotation rate, inclination and overall shape presented almost exactly as projected! This video shows the new shape model created using data from OSIRIS-REx’s approach to the asteroid.
One outlier from the predicted shape model is the size of the large boulder near Bennu’s south pole. The ground-based shape model calculated it to be at least 33 feet (10 meters) in height. Preliminary calculations show that the boulder is closer to 164 feet (50 meters) in height, with a width of approximately 180 feet (55 meters).
Also during the approach phase, OSIRIS-REx revealed water locked inside the clays that make up Bennu. The presence of hydrated minerals across the asteroid confirms that Bennu, a remnant from early in the formation of the solar system, is an excellent specimen for the OSIRIS-REx mission to study. Get all the details about this discovery HERE.
Learn more about OSIRIS-REx’s journey at nasa.gov/osirisrex.
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“Moon’s shadow on the earth, as seen from the moon.” A study of the sky. 1896.
