☄️New shape model of Bennu? ✅
💦 Water in the asteroid’s clay? ✅
📸 Pics showing rugged terrain? ✅
Today we announced that data from our OSIRIS-REx (@OSIRIS_REx) mission has revealed water locked inside the clays that make up asteroid Bennu. The presence of hydrated minerals across the asteroid confirms that Bennu, a remnant from early in the formation of the solar system, is an excellent specimen for the spacecraft to study. When samples of this material are returned by the mission to Earth in 2023, scientists will receive a treasure trove of new information about the history and evolution of our solar system.
Additionally, data obtained from the spacecraft’s cameras corroborate ground-based telescopic observations of Bennu and confirm the original model released in 2013. That model closely predicted the asteroid’s actual shape, with Bennu’s diameter, rotation rate, inclination, and overall shape presented almost exactly as projected. The newest shape model can be seen here. One outlier from the predicted shape model is the size of a large boulder near Bennu’s south pole. It’s much larger than we thought!
Credit: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona
What’s up in the night sky this month?
Look up to see up to 120 meteors per hour when December's Geminid meteors peak and catch your last view of Saturn for several months.
Our @NASAJuno spacecraft is dolphin watching in the cosmos! 🐬
During its 16th close flyby of Jupiter, the spacecraft captured images of changing cloud formations across the southern hemisphere. If you take a close look, a cloud in the shape of a dolphin appears to be swimming through the cloud bands along the South South Temperate Belt. Stay tuned as we keep finding new shapes hidden in the swirling clouds.
Enhanced Image by Brian Swift and Sean Doran (CC BY-NC-SA) based on images provided Courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS
Tomorrow, we are set to land our InSight mission on Mars!
It is the first mission dedicated to studying the deep interior of Mars. InSight, short for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, is scheduled to land at Elysium Planitia with live coverage starting at 2 p.m. EST at www.nasa.gov/live. The mission's entry, descent, and landing phase begins when the spacecraft reaches the Martian atmosphere, about 80 miles (about 128 kilometers) above the surface, and ends with the lander safe and sound on the surface of Mars minutes later.
