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Asteroid Bennu, the Storyteller

Asteroids are the storytellers of our solar system’s youth. They are the closest we can get to the original material that makes up the sun, planets, and moons.

This week, our OSIRIS-REx spacecraft made history when it touched a pristine, ancient asteroid named Bennu to collect a sample from the surface. The intrepid spacecraft will now bring the asteroid sample – and its stories – back home to Earth.

Why is it that asteroid Bennu holds the history of our origins? Let’s go back to the beginning…

About 4.5 billion years ago, our solar system began as a spinning, swirling cloud made up of tiny bits of gaseous and rocky material. Most of that material – more than 99% of it – gathered in the center and went on to become the Sun.

The leftovers began to spin around the Sun, colliding into one another and forming larger and larger objects, eventually becoming planets, dwarf planets, and moons.

But asteroids didn’t become part of planets or moons. So, while the material in planets and moons were superheated and altered during the formation of the solar system and weathered by geologic processes over time, asteroids remained pristine.

Each asteroid holds knowledge from that special time in our solar system’s history. Each one contains information about the chemicals, minerals, and molecules that were present when the solar system was just starting to form.

With missions like OSIRIS-REx, we are going on a journey to these ancient worlds, seeking to learn what they remember, seeking to expand our knowledge, and deepen our understanding of our origins.

Learn more about the OSIRIS-REx mission HERE, or follow the mission on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com

#UnDiaComoHoy pero en el 2018 fue lanzado la misión #BepiColombo. Es la primera misión europea en conjuncion con la agencia espacial Japonesa (JAXA) hacia el planeta Mercurio. Se espera que llegue a su objetivo en el 2025.

Créditos: @ESA_History

Luna

Cámara digital compacta Canon Powershot Sx60hs X85 zoom, sin telescopio.

Crédito: Hidehiko Akazawa

Lluvia de meteoros de las Gemínidas desde una de las crestas del Valle de Pantalica.

Crédito: Dario Giannobile

https://instagram.com/dariogiannobile

~Antares

Vía láctea desde Hutchins Creek

Crédito: John O'Connell

John O'Connell Photography

www.flyingbytheseatofourplans.blogspot.com

Vía Láctea en Lake Mohave, Arizona.

Crédito: Julio C. Lozoya.

Vía Láctea desde Jutland, Dinamarca

Crédito: Ruslan Merzlyakov

RMS photography

Instagram.com/astrorms

¡No lo olviden hoy Mercurio, Júpiter y Saturno en el cielo justo después del atardecer!

Gemínidas desde Australia

Crédito: Claire Gore

El 22 de Febrero se publicó esta imagen por la Agencia de Exploración Aeroespacial de Japón (JAXA) donde se muestra la sombra en el centro, de la nave espacial Hayabusa2 después de su aterrizaje exitoso en el asteroide Ryugu. La nave espacial japonesa se está acercando a la Tierra después de un viaje de un año a casa desde un asteroide distante que lleva muestras de suelo y datos que podrían proporcionar pistas sobre los orígenes del sistema solar, dijo un funcionario de la agencia espacial el viernes 27 de noviembre de 2020.

Fuente: JAXA vía AP