DIY Photography

Your one stop shop for everything photo-video

  • News
  • Inspiration
  • Reviews
  • Tutorials
  • DIY
  • Gear
Search

Submit A Story

NASA shoots incredible photos of asteroid Bennu over 200 million miles away from Earth

Oct 22, 2020 by Dunja Djudjic Add Comment

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Last year, NASA’s OSIRIS-Rex probe shot a photo of asteroid Bennu from only 0.4 miles away. But NASA has just released the latest set of photos that are more close and personal. The probe touched the asteroid’s surface on Tuesday and captured a set of incredible photos from up close.

The series of photos was captured on 20 October as a part of the OSIRIS-REx mission’s Touch-And-Go (TAG) sample collection event. In the slideshow above, you can see the SamCam imager’s field of view as the spacecraft approaches and touches the surface of the asteroid, over 200 million miles (321 million km) away from Earth. In the lower part of the frame, you can see OSIRIS-REx’s sampling arm called the Touch-And-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism (TAGSAM). The photos you can see above were captured within a 5-minute period.

In a blog post, NASA explains the mission further:

“The round head at the end of TAGSAM is the only part of OSIRIS-REx that contacted the surface during the sample collection event. In the middle of the image sequence, the sampling head positions itself to contact the asteroid’s surface head-on. Shortly after, the sampling head impacts site Nightingale and penetrates Bennu’s regolith. Upon initial contact, the TAGSAM head appears to crush some of the porous rocks underneath it. One second later, the spacecraft fires a nitrogen gas bottle, which mobilizes a substantial amount of the sample site’s material. Preliminary data show the spacecraft spent approximately 5 of the 6 seconds of contact collecting surface material, and the majority of sample collection occurred within the first 3 seconds.”

In another video, NASA has shared another sequence of images. It shows SamCam imager’s field of view as the NASA spacecraft backs away from asteroid Bennu’s surface after touching down.

[via Digital Trends; Credits: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona]

FIND THIS INTERESTING? SHARE IT WITH YOUR FRIENDS!

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Related posts:

NASA’s Osiris REx probe captures a photo of asteroid Bennu from only 0.4 miles away NASA asteroid probe OSIRIS-REx photographed the Earth & Moon from 71 million miles away How I captured Starman in space from one million miles away These incredible images of Earth were shot from 575km away aboard Inspiration4

Filed Under: news Tagged With: asteroid, Bennu, NASA, space exploration

Dunja Djudjic: from diyphotography.net

About Dunja Djudjic

Dunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

« DxO PhotoLab 4 comes with AI-powered high ISO noise reduction
This article sparks outrage after calling street photography “gender-based violence” »

Submit A Story

Get our FREE Lighting Book

DIYP lighting book cover

* download requires newsletter signup

Recent Comments

Free Resources

Advanced lighting book

Learn photography

Recent Posts

  • Sony unveils three wireless microphones for content creators
  • This is why you should stop shooting music videos
  • First look at the Laowa Proteus Flex interchangeable flare optics
  • The Fotodiox RhinoCam Vertex shoots medium format images on L mount cameras
  • San Francisco filmmaker tracks stolen camera gear, police do nothing

Udi Tirosh: from diyphotography.netUdi Tirosh is an entrepreneur, photography inventor, journalist, educator, and writer based in Israel. With over 25 years of experience in the photo-video industry, Udi has built and sold several photography-related brands. Udi has a double degree in mass media communications and computer science.

Alex Baker: from diyphotography.netAlex Baker is a portrait and lifestyle driven photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She works on a range of projects from commercial to fine art and has had work featured in publications such as The Daily Mail, Conde Nast Traveller and El Mundo, and has exhibited work across Europe

David Williams: from diyphotography.netDave Williams is an accomplished travel photographer, writer, and best-selling author from the UK. He is also a photography educator and published Aurora expert. Dave has traveled extensively in recent years, capturing stunning images from around the world in a modified van. His work has been featured in various publications and he has worked with notable brands such as Skoda, EE, Boeing, Huawei, Microsoft, BMW, Conde Nast, Electronic Arts, Discovery, BBC, The Guardian, ESPN, NBC, and many others.

John Aldred: from diyphotography.netJohn Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.

Dunja Djudjic: from diyphotography.netDunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

Copyright © DIYPhotography 2006 - 2023 | About | Contact | Advertise | Write for DIYP | Full Disclosure | Privacy Policy