Ancient asteroid Bennu has baffled scientists yet again; read to know how

Bennu is an asteroid currently being orbited by NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission.  mission chose Bennu asteroid from around half a million or candidates for its proximity to Earth and low eccentricity. 480-meter wide asteroid initially baffled scientists who expected to see a smooth, regular formation as observed in a Harvard study. y were inste greeted by a structure much like a pile of rubble, held toger by forces of gravity.

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What is Asteroid Bennu?

According to a report by science portal PHYS, OSIRIS-REx mission which me this discovery in late 2018 would go on to make ar suspicious find a few days later when scientists ticed some irregularities in ir navigation system. It was picking up a lot more light sources than were possible in area, given that stars that were expected to be seen were about 10. In a research paper published in JGR: Planets, le scientist for mission Carl Hergenror attributed find to exceptional camera techlogy that OSIRIS-REx carries with it onboard.

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se tiny particles are ejecta from asteroid itself, most of which return to surface of asteroid after pursuing suborbital trajectories for a few hours with a small percent of m actually having eugh energy to break away from gravity of asteroid. y aren’t considered to be a threat to craft itself due to generally small size and low speeds of particles. current ory pins se mysterious emission cycles to Bennu’s 4.5-hour long rotational cycle which results in a constant cycle of heating and cooling. Over prolonged periods of time, this process starts causing deterioration in rocks. It’s this process that creates minute specs observed by on-board cameras. One such particle emitted during OSIRIS-REx’s monitoring was tracked in orbit for nearly a week.

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se discoveries are very exciting for scientists because y reveal behaviour more dynamic than what was expected of asteroids, which are usually considered to be less active than ir icy brethren, comets. It’s also important for scientists to observe and record data pertaining to such asteroids as y will be invaluable for future missions, helping engineers create instruments better suited for conditions recorded on this -old relic.

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