Morning Shadows on Osprey Crater and Gargoyle Saxum

Morning Shadows on Osprey Crater and Gargoyle Saxum

This image of a region near asteroid Bennu’s equator shows both Gargoyle Saxum, one of the darkest boulders on the asteroid (lower left), and the Osprey sample collection site (upper left). The image was taken April 4 by the PolyCam camera on NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft from a distance of 3 miles (4.9 km). The field of view is 225 ft (68.6 m). For scale, the larger light-colored rock, called Strix Saxum, in the Osprey site crater is 17 ft (5.2 m) long, which is about the same length as a box truck. The image was obtained during Flyby 5A of the mission’s Detailed Survey: Baseball Diamond phase. When the image was taken, the spacecraft was over the northern hemisphere, pointing PolyCam down and west in order to capture the morning shadows in the region.

Date Taken: April, 4, 2019

Instrument Used: OCAMS (PolyCam)

Credit: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona

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Morning Shadows on Osprey Crater and Gargoyle Saxum

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