Zooming in on Asteroid Bennu

Zooming in on Asteroid Bennu

This set of 16 images shows the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft’s steady approach toward the asteroid Bennu during the last half of October 2018. From Oct. 12 to Oct. 29, the long-range PolyCam camera took one optical navigation image per day, except on Oct. 16 and 17 when PolyCam was not scheduled to take images. The spacecraft was approximately 27,340 miles (44,000 km) from Bennu for the first image – a distance several thousand miles greater than the circumference of the Earth. The last image was taken from a distance of around 200 miles (320 km), or slightly less than the distance between Los Angeles and Las Vegas.

Date Taken: Oct. 12 to Oct. 29, 2018

Instrument Used: OCAMS (PolyCam)

Credit: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona

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