Astronomy Picture of the Day

   [1]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.

                              2023 September 21
   [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download and animated
                                    gif.

                                Tagging Bennu
       Image Credit: [3]OSIRIS-REx, [4]University of Arizona, [5]NASA,
                 [6]Goddard Scientific Visualization Studio

   Explanation: The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft's arm reached out and touched
   asteroid 101955 Bennu [7]on October 20, 2020, after a [8]careful
   approach to the small, near-Earth asteroid's boulder-strewn surface.
   Dubbed a [9]Touch-And-Go (TAG) sampling event, the 30 centimeter wide
   sampling head (TAGSAM) appears to crush some of the rocks in this
   close-up recorded by the spacecraft's SamCam. The image was snapped
   just after surface contact some 321 million kilometers from planet
   Earth. One second later, the spacecraft fired nitrogen gas from a
   bottle intended to blow a substantial amount of [10]Bennu's regolith
   into the sampling head, collecting the [11]loose surface material. And
   now, nearly three years later, on Sunday, September 24, that sample of
   asteroid Bennu is scheduled to [12]arrive on planet Earth. The sample
   return capsule will be [13]dropped off by the OSIRIS-Rex spacecraft as
   it makes a close flyby of Earth. Twenty minutes after the drop-off, the
   spacecraft will fire its thrusters to divert past Earth and continue on
   to orbit near-Earth [14]asteroid 99942 Apophis.

                Tomorrow's picture: reflections of the cosmos
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    Authors & editors: [26]Robert Nemiroff ([27]MTU) & [28]Jerry Bonnell
                                 ([29]UMCP)
          NASA Official: Phillip Newman [30]Specific rights apply.
              [31]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices
                A service of: [32]ASD at [33]NASA / [34]GSFC,
                         [35]NASA Science Activation
                           & [36]Michigan Tech. U.

References

   1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
   2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2309/E_tag_aftermath.gif
   3. https://www.nasa.gov/osiris-rex
   4. https://osirisrex.arizona.edu/
   5. https://www.nasa.gov/
   6. https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/
   7. https://youtu.be/xj0O-fLSV7c
   8. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap201012.html
   9. https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2020/osiris-rex-tags-surface-of-asteroid-bennu/
  10. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200916.html
  11. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2010/E_tag_aftermath.gif
  12. https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-completes-last-osiris-rex-test-before-asteroid-sample-delivery
  13. https://blogs.nasa.gov/osiris-rex/2023/09/08/heres-how-sept-24-asteroid-sample-delivery-will-work/
  14. https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/asteroids-comets-and-meteors/asteroids/apophis/in-depth/
  15. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230920.html
  16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
  17. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html
  18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html
  19. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html
  21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss
  22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html
  23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html
  24. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=230921
  25. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230922.html
  26. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  27. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  28. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  29. http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  30. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  31. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  32. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  33. https://www.nasa.gov/
  34. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  35. https://science.nasa.gov/learners
  36. http://www.mtu.edu/