Asteroid Bennu is of particular interest to NASA as it attempts to understand the potential threat it poses to Earth. The imposing asteroid is currently hurtling through the void of space some 70 million miles (110km) from Earth. Yet despite the enormous distances involved, the US space agency has released the best-ever batch of Bennu photos, as it accelerates its exploration of the asteroid’s mysterious surface.
Swiftly orbiting the giant rock is NASA’s OSIRIS-REx space probe, which aims to collect a surface sample from Bennu by 2023.
Ahead of the daring rock collection mission, NASA’s spacecraft dips in and out of orbit around Bennu to take detailed snapshots of its surface.
The latest Asteroid Bennu pictures were taken by the spacecraft’s MapCam camera on February 25, 2019.
The asteroid pictures include a wide shot and two close-ups of a region in Asteroid Bennu’s Northern Hemisphere.
NASA said: “The images were taken on February 25 while the spacecraft was in orbit around Bennu, approximately 1.1 miles (1.8km) from the asteroid’s surface.
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“The observation plan for this day provided for one MapCam and two PolyCam images every 10 minutes, allowing for this combination of context and detail of Bennu’s surface.”
NASA researchers have calculated there is a one in 2,700-chance of Bennu colliding with Earth between 2175 and 2199.
And though Asteroid Bennu is large enough to destroy a city, a direct impact would thankfully not wipe out life on Earth.
Dante Lauretta, Nasa Osiris-Rex principal investigator said: “We are not talking about an asteroid that could destroy the Earth.
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“We’re not anywhere near that kind of energy for an impact.”
Asteroid Bennu is barrelling through space at approximately 63,000 miles per hour (101,000 km per hour).
NASA’s up-close photos now reveal the exact threat Earth could face one day.
The wide-angle image (main image left), shows a 590ft (180m) wide area.
Several rocks, including some boulders, and a mound of regolith mainly empty of large rocks can be seen.
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The PolyCam frames are 101ft (31m) across and the boulder depicted is roughly the same size as a humpback whale.
As the asteroid travels through deep space it also spins, completing a full rotation every 4.3 hours.
The latest research conducted by NASA implies Bennu’s rotation is accelerating.
And this discovery could surprisingly prove to be good news.
This is because Asteroid Bennu could potentially “lose pieces of itself or blow itself apart”, reducing its destructive power.
The remaining two pictures to the right of the main image, show off a 50ft (15m) boulder and a regolith “pond” towards the bottom.
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