Asteroid Bennu may be hollow according to a new study:
Researchers from the University of Colorado announced findings based on data captured by the spacecraft in the two years it was in orbit that shows the asteroid is likely hollow. Department of aerospace engineering sciences Daniel Scheeres said it appears the void in the asteroid center could hold a couple of football fields.
[...] The team believes that the asteroid's rotation could be responsible for the void inside. Over time, Bennu's rotation is gaining speed, and they think it's in the process of spinning itself into pieces. Since the core is low density, it's easier for the entire asteroid to fall apart as it spins. Now that measurements of the gravity field of the asteroid over, the team of scientists have wrapped up their work on the OSIRIS-REx mission.
The results of their work have contributed to the plan to analyze samples that will be returned to earth by the spacecraft. The current plan will see the samples analyzed to determine the cohesion between grains, a key physical property that impacts the mass distribution observed in the study.
Related:
Asteroid Bennu Might Be Hollow and Doomed to Crumble
Nasa Data Appears to Show That Giant Asteroid is Hollow
Experts Found Cavities in Asteroid Bennu; Is It Dying?
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NASA reports, via NASA, that OSIRIS-REx is leaving Bennu.
NASA's OSIRIS-REx completed its last flyover of Bennu around 6 a.m. EDT (4 a.m. MDT) April 7 and is now slowly drifting away from the asteroid; however, the mission team will have to wait a few more days to find out how the spacecraft changed the surface of Bennu when it grabbed a sample of the asteroid.
The OSIRIS-REx team added this flyby to document surface changes resulting from the Touch and Go (TAG) sample collection maneuver Oct. 20, 2020. "By surveying the distribution of the excavated material around the TAG site, we will learn more about the nature of the surface and subsurface materials along with the mechanical properties of the asteroid," said Dr. Dante Lauretta, principal investigator for OSIRIS-REx at the University of Arizona.
During the flyby, OSIRIS-REx imaged Bennu for 5.9 hours, covering more than a full rotation of the asteroid. It flew within 2.1 miles' (3.5 kilometers) distance to the surface of Bennu – the closest it's been since the TAG sample collection event.
Just to mention, the survey and selection of a sampling site was one of the recent "citizen science" projects.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 11 2020, @05:47PM (1 child)
So we could gain access to the alien technology inside [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 11 2020, @09:10PM
or maybe not?
"The thing's hollow—it goes on forever—and—oh my God!—it's full of stars!"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 11 2020, @06:30PM (1 child)
So now we know the earth, moon, and an asteroid are hollow. Anyone else see a trend?
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Wednesday November 11 2020, @07:22PM
Do we know that? I don't think that is something we know, unless you mean that concept album Rick Wakeman recorded. [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday November 11 2020, @06:37PM (6 children)
A hollow asteroid named Bennu sounds like the premise for a Kurt Vonnegut novel. Tralfamadorians inhabit it, and have been manipulating human evolution for their own purposes. It would explain so much in the past 10 years.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by legont on Wednesday November 11 2020, @07:13PM
Well, it probably makes it the most invaluable real estate within a parsecs, alien tech or not.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday November 11 2020, @07:41PM (4 children)
Kurt can't write all the stories. There's a kid in Jamaica working on that story right now, and you've just given his story line away. Kid's gonna be pissed . . .
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 12 2020, @03:15AM (3 children)
In Jamaica, Jamaica or Jamaica, Queens?
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday November 12 2020, @03:29AM (2 children)
The one in Queens is an imposter. I've driven through it, and it looks just like Queens. Jamaica, Jamaica is kinda redundant, almost as bad as New York, New York, but it's the real Jamaica. ;^)
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 12 2020, @05:10AM
The place so nice they named it twice!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 14 2020, @03:44PM
Actually, New York, New York isn't redundant at all.
New York [wikipedia.org] (the *county* not the state) is comprised of the island of Manhattan, which is within the confines of New York State [wikipedia.org].
So an address ending in New, York, NY is a perfectly valid (and not redundant at all) one, existing somewhere on the island of Manhattan.
In fact, each borough [wikipedia.org] of New York City is coextensive with a county:
Borough = County
Manhattan = New York
Brooklyn = Kings
Queens = Queens
Staten Island = Richmond
The Bronx = Bronx
It was (with the exception of The Bronx, made a county in 1914) reorganized in that fashion when the New York City we know today was consolidated in 1898.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by cmdrklarg on Wednesday November 11 2020, @10:01PM
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_the_World_is_Hollow_and_I_Have_Touched_the_Sky [wikipedia.org]
Answer now is don't give in; aim for a new tomorrow.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 14 2020, @05:56PM
Holy perpetual motion machine, Batman!