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Asteroid Bennu has been hanging out with Earth for over a million years
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Asteroid Bennu has been hanging out with Earth for over a million years

The near-Earth asteroid Bennu has been in an orbit that brings it near to Earth for 1.75 million years, based on a study of craters on the asteroid's surface.

Science & Tech

he near-Earth asteroid Bennu has been keeping our planet company for a long time. Bennu, new research suggests, has been in an orbit that brings it near to Earth for 1.75 million years.

The study published Monday in the journal Nature.

If this asteroid sounds familiar, it's because the boulder-covered space rock was recently the target of a historic NASA mission. The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft briefly touched down on the surface of the asteroid on October 20 to collect a sample that will be returned to Earth in 2023.

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This was NASA's first time landing on and collecting a sample from an asteroid. The OSIRIS-REx mission stands for Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer.

Beyond its landmark touchdown, the OSIRIS-REx mission has revealed a wealth of information and surprises about the asteroid since launching in 2016 and arriving at Bennu in 2018.

This research is the latest in a string of studies to be published using images from the suite of cameras on the spacecraft.