![]() “So I think that overall, the situation has improved,” he told reporters. While the odds of a strike have risen from 1-in-2,700 to 1-in-1,750 over the next century or two, scientists now have a much better idea of Bennu’s path thanks to NASA’s Osiris-Rex spacecraft, according to Farnocchia. “We shouldn’t be worried about it too much,” said Davide Farnocchia, a scientist with NASA’s Center for Near Earth Object Studies at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, who served as the study’s lead author. The bad news is that the space rock has a slightly greater chance of clobbering Earth than previously thought.īut don’t be alarmed: Scientists reported today that the odds are still quite low that Bennu will hit us in the next century. > The good news is that scientists have a better handle on asteroid Bennu’s whereabouts for the next 200 years. NASA's OSIRIS REx spacecraft captured a photo of Bennu.Scientists have said that Bennu, an asteroid also known as Bennu, will travel within half the distance between the Earth and the Moon in 2135.CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. However, the likelihood of it striking our planet in the next few centuries is extremely low.OSIRIS-REx was a NASA spacecraft that spent two years close to Bennu (an asteroid measuring approximately 1,650 feet (505 meters). ![]() Scientists have been studying an asteroid named Bennu for months and just came to a brand new conclusion regarding the hurtling piece of rock. It observed its size, shape and composition, and tracked its orbit around the sun.The spacecraft collected a sample of the asteroid's surface using its robotic arm. The odds have changed from 1-in-2,700 to now 1-in-1,750.Īs it turns out, there’s actually a greater chance than previously thought that the asteroid will collide with Earth. ![]() This will aid researchers in determining the future trajectory for Bennu.OSIRIS-REx will return the rocks and dust it collected to Earth on September 24, 2023.Bennu was found in 1999. It is now considered a potentially dangerous asteroid.It will be in close proximity to Earth on September 2135.Scientists are trying to determine how Earth's gravity, a phenomenon called the Yarkovsky Effect, will impact its future trajectory."The OSIRIS–REx data provide us with so much more accurate information, we can test our models and calculate Bennu's future trajectory to a very high level of certainty through 2135," stated Davide Farnocchia (a scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California).NASA video frame handout photo shows the robotic arm of the NASA spacecraft OSIRIS–REx collecting samples from Bennu.Farnocchia, the lead author of the study in Icarus, stated that "we've never modelled an asteroid’s trajectory to such precision before."He stressed that "the impact probability overall" is very low. Episodes of particle ejection from the surface of the active asteroid (101955) Bennu. Bennu is one of the most hazardous known asteroids in our solar system. It is not something to be concerned about.Farnocchia stated that the danger from Bennu is "less than the undiscovered population objects of similar size."Researchers estimated Bennu's total probability of having an impact on the world between now and 2300, which is approximately one in 1,750 or 0.057 per cent.Lindley Johnson, of NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office, stated that "We are still searching for what we don’t know out therethe objects which haven’t been found yet."Johnson stated that researchers are looking at ways to change the orbit of an asteroids, should this ever be necessary.He stated that an asteroid hitting Earth would create a crater 10-20 times larger than the object, and cause destruction 100 times greater than the crater.Johnson said, however, that "we really don't believe we need to take any action about Bennu.
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