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Want to know the face of an asteroid with apocalyptic potential? NASA has the photos for you. On September 23, the US Space Agency shared the photos taken by the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft, in orbit at Bennu since December 31st.
500 meters in diameter and 79 billion kilograms, the giant rock was photographed very closely by the space probe, which captured the images on January 17, one kilometer from the asteroid. The photos come from the southern hemisphere of Bennu
In the orbit of Bennu, OSIRIS-REx has set two records for a device of this type. This is due to the fact that the celestial object is the smallest gravity object around a spaceship, just as the probe's proximity to the asteroid is also the smallest ever recorded. planets of the solar system. For this reason, scientists use OSIRIS-REX to understand the origin of the planetary system and even the appearance of life on Earth.
The most recent photo is one of the many high-resolution images captured by the probe, which will use surface samples to study the chemical composition of the asteroid