Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                               2020 October 22

                                Tagging Bennu
       Image Credit: OSIRIS-REx, University of Arizona, NASA, Goddard
                       Scientific Visualization Studio

   Explanation: On October 20, after a careful approach to the
   boulder-strewn surface, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft's arm reached out and
   touched asteroid Bennu. Dubbed a Touch-And-Go (TAG) sampling event, the
   30 centimeter wide sampling head (TAGSAM) appears to crush some of the
   rocks in this snapshot. The close-up scene was recorded by the
   spacecraft's SamCam some 321 million kilometers from planet Earth, just
   after surface contact. One second later, the spacecraft fired nitrogen
   gas from a bottle intended to blow a substantial amount of Bennu's
   regolith into the sampling head, collecting the loose surface material.
   Data show the spacecraft spent approximately 5 more seconds in contact
   with Bennu's Nightingale sample site and then performed its back-away
   burn. Timelapse frames from SamCam reveal the aftermath.

                     Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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                      A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC
                             & Michigan Tech. U.


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