3D Bennu
Explanation:
Put on your red/blue glasses and float next to asteroid
101955 Bennu.
Shaped like a spinning top toy
with boulders littering its rough surface,
the tiny Solar System world is about
1 Empire
State Building
(less than 500 meters) across.
Frames used to construct this 3D anaglyph were taken by PolyCam
on board the OSIRIS_REx spacecraft on December 3 from
a distance of about 80 kilometers.
Now
settling in
to explore Bennu from orbit, the
OSIRIS-REx mission
is expected to deliver samples of the asteroid to
planet Earth in 2023.
Samples of dust from another asteroid will streak
through Earth's atmosphere much sooner though, when the
Geminid meteor shower peaks in predawn skies on December 14.
The parent body for the annual Geminids is asteroid
3200 Phaethon.
Watch: Geminid Meteor Shower
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
