OSIRIS-REx Sheds Light on Hazardous Asteroid Bennu
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- Visualizations by:
- Josh Masters
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- Scientific consulting by:
- Davide Farnocchia
- View full credits
OSIRIS-REx is improving our understanding of asteroid Bennu’s future impact hazard.
Complete transcript available.
Universal Production Music: “Time Particles” by Laetitia Frenod
Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.
On September 25, 2135, an asteroid called Bennu will make a close flyby of Earth. Our planet’s gravity will tweak Bennu’s path, making it a challenge to calculate its future trajectory. During the flyby, there is an extremely small chance that Bennu will pass through a “gravitational keyhole” – a region of space that would set it on just the right path to impact Earth, late in the 22nd century.
Although it is difficult to determine the odds of this actually happening, new data from NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft have allowed scientists to better model how Bennu’s orbit will evolve over time, and to better calculate the probability of an impact. Now, a new paper from the OSIRIS-REx science team gives Bennu a 1:2700 (0.037%) chance of impacting Earth on September 24, 2182.
Learn more about asteroid Bennu's updated impact hazard.
For More Information
See NASA.gov
Credits
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
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Animators
- Josh Masters (Freelance) [Lead]
- Chris Smith (KBR Wyle Services, LLC)
- Michael Lentz (KBR Wyle Services, LLC)
- Walt Feimer (KBR Wyle Services, LLC)
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Visualizer
- Kel Elkins (USRA)
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Scientists
- Davide Farnocchia (JPL) [Lead]
- Dante Lauretta (The University of Arizona)
- Steven Chesley (JPL)
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Producer
- Dan Gallagher (KBR Wyle Services, LLC)
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Narrator
- Dan Gallagher (KBR Wyle Services, LLC)
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Support
- Aaron E. Lepsch (ADNET Systems, Inc.)
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Public affairs officer
- Rani Gran (NASA/GSFC)
Missions
This visualization is related to the following missions:Series
This visualization can be found in the following series:Related Pages
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ID: 4921 Visualization
Bennu 2135/2182 orbits
Read moreVisualization depicting the 2135 Bennu-Earth flyby. Bennu’s orbit is represented in white. Earth’s orbit is represented in light blue. || bennu_2135_comp_0000_print.jpg (1024x576) [35.1 KB] || bennu_2135_comp_0000_searchweb.png (320x180) [13.4 KB] || bennu_2135_comp_0000_thm.png (80x40) [4.1 KB] || bennu_2135_comp_1080p30.webm (1920x1080) [3.7 MB] || bennu_2135_comp_1080p30.mp4 (1920x1080) [1.7 MB] || bennu_2135_comp_1080p60.mp4 (1920x1080) [1.7 MB] || frames/3840x2160_16x9_60p/bennu_orbit_2135/ (3840x2160) [256.0 KB] || bennu_2135_comp_2160p30.mp4 (3840x2160) [3.4 MB] || bennu_2135_comp_2160p60.mp4 (3840x2160) [3.5 MB] ||
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ID: 20356 Animation
Asteroid Bennu Impact Hazard: Animations
Read moreOn September 25, 2135, an asteroid called Bennu will make a close flyby of Earth. Our planet’s gravity will tweak Bennu’s path, making it a challenge to calculate its future trajectory and the odds of a potential impact late in the 22nd century. This media resource page provides broadcast-quality animations related to asteroid Bennu’s impact hazard. Learn more from NASA.Watch the produced video on the NASA Goddard YouTube Channel. ||
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ID: 20286 Animation
OSIRIS-REx Mission Design: Cruise and Arrival Animations
Read moreAfter launching from Earth on September 8, 2016, OSIRIS-REx spent over two years on its outbound cruise to asteroid Bennu. The spacecraft approached the asteroid in August 2018 and captured its first images of Bennu using its long-range camera, PolyCam. OSIRIS-REx officially arrived at Bennu on December 3, 2018, and began studying the asteroid in preparation for sample collection in 2020. ||
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ID: 20287 Animation
OSIRIS-REx Mission Design: Site Selection Campaign
Read moreBaseball Diamond Left || Shot19_422.00001_print.jpg (1024x576) [82.5 KB] || Shot19_422.00001_searchweb.png (320x180) [67.6 KB] || Shot19_422.00001_thm.png (80x40) [4.5 KB] || Shot19_422.mov (3840x2160) [1.3 GB] || Shot19_h264.mov (3840x2160) [47.1 MB] || frames/3840x2160_16x9_60p/Baseball_Diamonds_Left_and_Right/Shot19/ (3840x2160) [64.0 KB] || Shot19_422.webm (3840x2160) [4.4 MB] ||
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ID: 11964 Produced Video
How Sunlight Pushes Asteroids
Read moreRotating asteroids have a tough time sticking to their orbits. Their surfaces heat up during the day and cool down at night, giving off radiation that can act as a sort of mini-thruster. This force, called the Yarkovsky effect, can cause rotating asteroids to drift widely over time, making it hard for scientists to predict their long-term risk to Earth. Watch this video on the NASAexplorer YouTube channel.For complete transcript, click here. || Yarkovsky_stylized_poster.png (1920x1080) [1.0 MB] || Yarkovsky_stylized_poster_print.jpg (1024x576) [105.7 KB] || Yarkovsky_stylized_poster_searchweb.png (320x180) [62.8 KB] || Yarkovsky_stylized_poster_thm.png (80x40) [8.4 KB] || G2015-063_Yarkovsky_Effect_MASTER.mov (1920x1080) [1.9 GB] || G2015-063_Yarkovsky_Effect_MASTER_H264.mov (1920x1080) [369.3 MB] || NASA_TV_G2015-063_Yarkovsky_Effect_MASTER.mpeg (1280x720) [422.5 MB] || YOUTUBE_HQ_G2015-063_Yarkovsky_Effect_MASTER_youtube_hq.mov (1280x720) [84.5 MB] || APPLE_TV_G2015-063_Yarkovsky_Effect_MASTER_appletv.m4v (1280x720) [72.0 MB] || WMV_G2015-063_Yarkovsky_Effect_MASTER_1280x720.wmv (1280x720) [47.7 MB] || WEBM_G2015-063_Yarkovsky_Effect_MASTER.webm (960x540) [42.2 MB] || APPLE_TV_G2015-063_Yarkovsky_Effect_MASTER_appletv_subtitles.m4v (1280x720) [72.1 MB] || G2015-063_Yarkovsky_Effect_MASTER_H264.en_US.srt [2.6 KB] || G2015-063_Yarkovsky_Effect_MASTER_H264.en_US.vtt [2.6 KB] || NASA_PODCAST_G2015-063_Yarkovsky_Effect_MASTER_ipod_sm.mp4 (320x240) [27.5 MB] ||
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ID: 13906 Produced Video
OSIRIS-REx Bennu Impact Probability – Media Telecon
Read moreNASA will host a media teleconference at 1 p.m. EDT Wednesday, Aug. 11, to discuss an important finding from NASA’s Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft.OSIRIS-REx spent over two years near the asteroid Bennu, which is a third of a mile (500 meters) wide. During that time, the spacecraft gathered information about Bennu’s size, shape, mass, and composition while monitoring its spin and orbital trajectory. Before leaving the near-Earth object May 10, 2021, the spacecraft scooped up a sample of rock and dust from the asteroid’s surface. OSIRIS-REx will return the sample to Earth Sept. 24, 2023, for further scientific study.The teleconference will stream live online at: http://www.nasa.gov/liveParticipants in the briefing will be:•Dante Lauretta, study co-author and OSIRIS-REx principal investigator at the University of Arizona in Tucson•Davide Farnocchia, study lead author and scientist with the Center for Near Earth Object Studies at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California•Jason Dworkin, OSIRIS-REx project scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland•Lindley Johnson, planetary defense officer at NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office at NASA Headquarters in WashingtonFor more information about the OSIRIS-REx mission to Bennu, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/osiris-rexLearn more about asteroid Bennu’s updated impact hazard.Read the science paper on Icarus. ||
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