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NASA / Goddard / University of Arizona / Lockheed Martin
The OSIRIS-REx space probe has released some of its most detailed images ever made on its target, the asteroid Bennu. And they are breathtaking.
The probe took the photos on Jan. 17, just 1.6 kilometers from Bennu's surface, using his NavCam 1 navigation camera, according to a NASA press release. As its name indicates, this camera is used to track the OSIRIS REx orbit around the Bennu.
Below, recorded images, with two views of the Bennu's south pole, captured at a shutter speed of 1/700. second. Click on the image below to view it in high resolution.
NASA / Goddard / University of Arizona / Lockheed Martin
OSIRIS-REX was launched in 2016 for the purpose of studying and collecting samples of an asteroid near the Earth. The spacecraft arrived at Bennu early December 2018 and began its orbit around the asteroid in January. The asteroid, which measures only 518 meters in diameter, is now the smallest object ever put into orbit by a spaceship. From top to bottom, the asteroid is about the size of Willis Tower, Chicago or Freedom Tower, New York.
Orbiting something as small is a big challenge because the object has a slight gravitational field. The spaceship uses these images to help calibrate this difficult orbit.
But the OSIRIS-REx mission does not consist only in beautiful images. It also has an important function to badyze Bennu to know how gravity and the Yarkovsky effect – when uneven heating of the Sun in a light body such as the asteroid can alter its trajectory – can increase the risk of collision of the body heavenly with the Terra (the models suggest that during his land approach between 2175 and 2196, he will have a chance in 2,700 to hit us.)
There are several other images of the Bennu site, which have been updated in Mission function advance. But these are certainly the clearest images ever recorded.
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