Posted on 09/21/2023 12:47:11 PM PDT by MtnClimber
Explanation: The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft's arm reached out and touched asteroid 101955 Bennu on October 20, 2020, after a careful approach to the small, near-Earth asteroid's boulder-strewn surface. Dubbed a 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 Bennu's regolith into the sampling head, collecting the loose surface material. And now, nearly three years later, on Sunday, September 24, that sample of asteroid Bennu is scheduled to arrive on planet Earth. The sample return capsule will be 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 asteroid 99942 Apophis.
(Excerpt) Read more at apod.nasa.gov ...
For more detail go to the link and click on the image for a high definition image. You can then move the magnifying glass cursor then click to zoom in and click again to zoom out. When zoomed in you can scan by moving the side bars on the bottom and right side of the image.
Click on the photo at the link to go to the detailed photo which has a time sequence of photos for the asteroid sample collection process.
Why are asteroids made of rocks?...................
If they were made of charcoal they would be hard to see.
Because we have depleted all of the cheese in the universe to use on cheeseburgers. One of the reasons beef will be banned.
We are told that all the planets and stuff in the solar system, including comets and asteroids, coalesced from the debris of an extinct star that went nova or supernova at some remote time in the past.
Are there rocks in the center of stars? Solids I’m sure, like heavy metals and lots of Hydrogen gas.
Yet the gas giants are full of methane, ammonia, some amount of water and lots of other minor gases.
Comets are described as ‘dirty snowballs’.
We are told that the asteroid belt is a planet the didn’t quite make it due to lack of mass.
So, where did the ‘rocks’ come from that made the asteroids and the inner planets?................
you have some good questions. Stars are mostly hydrogen and helium. Heavier elements up to iron are created in heavy stars as they age. Finally heavy stars explode in a super nova and create the elements beyond iron. So yes old stars create all the elements which make rocks, asteroids, comets, and planets. We are made of star stuff.
Billyuns and billyuns ...
Looks like this picture was taken in a railroad “Coal car!” (more Hollywood deception!)
Don’t let that coal land on our Earth, it might cause more Global Warming!
Oh, the huge manatee!
Let’s just face it, we don’t know shite about anything.
Good question, Red! I’m not sure why asteroids are made of rocks. Maybe they’re made of chocolate and the solar system is just hiding it from us.
Or maybe they’re made of diamonds and the universe is just too greedy to share them with us. Ask me again tomorrow. 😜
...and half of what we do know is just plain wrong!
Doesn’t Deep State bring back the Andromeda Strain today...?
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