OSIRIS-REx images close in on Bennu's northern hemisphere

This trio of images acquired by NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft shows a wide shot and two close-ups of a region in asteroid Bennu's northern hemisphere.

The wide-angle image (left), obtained by the spacecraft's MapCam camera, shows a 590-foot (180-meter) wide area with many rocks, including some large boulders, and a "pond" of regolith that is mostly devoid of large rocks.

The two closer images, obtained by the high-resolution PolyCam camera, show details of areas in the MapCam image, specifically a 50-foot (15 meter) boulder (top) and the regolith pond (bottom). The PolyCam frames are 101 feet (31 meters) across and the boulder depicted is approximately the same size as a humpback whale.

The images were taken on February 25 while the spacecraft was in orbit around Bennu, approximately 1.1 miles (1.8 km) from the asteroid's surface.

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.

Related Links
OSIRIS-REx
Asteroid and Comet Mission News, Science and Technology

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Asteroid Bennu is rotating faster over time
Washington DC (SPX) Mar 13, 2019
In late 2018, the Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft arrived at Bennu, the asteroid it will be studying and sampling over the next several years. Now, new research in the AGU journal Geophysical Research Letters shows Bennu is spinning faster over time - an observation that will help scientists understand the evolution of asteroids, their potential threat to Earth and if they could be mined for resources. Bennu is 110 ... read more