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.
NASA’s Osiris REx probe captures a photo of asteroid Bennu from only 0.4 miles away
NASA’s OSIRIS-Rex probe, which is currently orbiting around the asteroid 101955 Bennu, has transmitted the photo taken from only 0.4 miles away. NASA has recently published the stunning image, which is the closest shot of the asteroid yet.
NASA asteroid probe OSIRIS-REx photographed the Earth & Moon from 71 million miles away
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx probe is tasked with the mission of obtaining a sample of 101955 Bennu, a carbonaceous near-Earth asteroid. Discovered in September 1999, Bennu has a 1-in-2,700 chance of hitting Earth at some point. But, if it does, it’ll happen long after we’re all gone at some point between 2175 and 2199.
OSIRIS-REx arrived at Bennu in December 2018 after a two-year journey, and it just sent back a pretty interesting photo. On first glance, it doesn’t look that amazing, but we see here is Bennu (the big bright dot on the right), along with the Earth and Moon (the two smaller dots on the lower left) 71 million miles away.
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