(CNN) The near-Earth asteroid Bennu has been keeping our planet company for a long time. Bennu, new research suggests, has been in an orbit that brings it near to Earth for 1.75 million years.
Quite a lot has been going on:
2 small asteroids zip by Earth closer than the moon today | Space
Two small asteroids will fly by Earth today (Oct. 19) at a range that's closer than the moon, a space rock double flyby that comes as NASA gears up for an asteroid encounter of its own.
The asteroids 2020 UX and 2020 TF6, both discovered in the last week, will be less than half the distance of Earth's moon (when they pass by today, but pose little threat to our planet. The moon, on average, is about 239,000 miles (385,000 kilometers) from Earth.
NASA 'fist bumps' an asteroid to reveal Solar System's secrets
NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is set to sample the diamond-shaped asteroid Bennu. Credit: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona
NASA has grabbed its first-ever taste of an asteroid. On 20 October, some 334 million kilometres from Earth, the agency's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft briefly touched the surface of an asteroid named Bennu, with the aim of hoovering up a collection of dust and pebbles. NASA should know within a week if it was successful in picking up material. If so, the spacecraft will fly the carbon-rich rubble back to Earth, where scientists can probe it for clues to the history of the Solar System.
NASA asteroid mission: New images show historic landing and sample collection on Bennu - CNN
(CNN) New images taken by the OSIRIS-REx mission show the historic first touchdown of a NASA spacecraft on the near-Earth asteroid Bennu. The spacecraft collected a sample that will be returned to Earth in 2023.
Other things to check out:
See NASA spacecraft successfully land on an asteroid - CNN Video
Mmore complete view of massive asteroid Psyche: Researcher made first observations of asteroid at
A new study authored by Southwest Research Insti-tute planetary scientist Dr. Tracy Becker discusses several new views of the asteroid 16 Psyche, including the first ultraviolet observations. The study, which was published today in The Planetary Science Journal and presented at the virtual meeting of the American Astronomical Society's Division for Planetary Sciences, paints a clearer view of the asteroid than was previously available.
At about 140 miles in diameter, Psyche is one of the most massive objects in the main asteroid belt orbiting between Mars and Jupiter. Previous observations indicate that Psyche is a dense, largely metallic object thought to be the leftover core of a planet that failed in formation.
The strange story of 2020 SO: How an asteroid turned into rocket junk and the NASA scientist who
As soon as he saw the data, Paul Chodas knew something was strange about the near-Earth object that had been designated 2020 SO.
It should have been just another of the tens of thousands of space rocks that astronomers have spotted breezing through our neighborhood in space. This solar system rubble is mostly harmless, but scientists identify and track all they can in case an object appears to be on a collision course with Earth. As head of NASA's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, Chodas evaluates observations of these objects every day.
NASA expert identifies mystery object once thought an asteroid - CBS News
The jig may be up for an "asteroid" that's expected to get nabbed by Earth's gravity and become a mini moon next month. Instead of a cosmic rock, the newly discovered object appears to be an old rocket from a failed moon-landing mission 54 years ago that's finally making its way back home, according to NASA's leading asteroid expert. Observations should help nail its identity.
Chodas speculates that asteroid 2020 SO, as it is formally known, is actually the Centaur upper rocket stage that successfully propelled NASA's Surveyor 2 lander to the moon in 1966 before it was discarded. The lander ended up crashing into the moon after one of its thrusters failed to ignite on the way there. The rocket, meanwhile, swept past the moon and into orbit around the sun as intended junk, never to be seen again — until perhaps now.
Happening on Twitter
Asteroid Bennu has been in an orbit that brings it near Earth for 1.75 million years, new research suggests. https://t.co/u4XiFObR00 CNN Mon Oct 26 17:09:42 +0000 2020
The asteroid Bennu has been orbiting near to Earth for around 1.75 million years, according to an analysis publishe… https://t.co/czlwYNCbMf nature (from London) Mon Oct 26 22:49:42 +0000 2020
Reminder, tomorrow NASA is going to grab up to two kilograms of rocks from the surface of an asteroid. No space mi… https://t.co/PkC53oyRnM Astro_Jonny (from London, UK) Mon Oct 19 10:55:53 +0000 2020
After orbiting the near-Earth asteroid Bennu for nearly two years, NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft has successfully to… https://t.co/Cm5OFKX2ES CNN Tue Oct 20 22:56:02 +0000 2020
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