A recent paper published in Nature and Nature Astronomy finding life's building blocks on a near-Earth asteroid named Bennu.

As the water evaporated, brines similar to Earth’s salt flats remained. Bennu’s near-Earth orbit and carbon-rich makeup have made it a target of scientific interest. It has been theorized that ...

Bennu, designated a Potentially Hazardous Asteroid due to its size and Earth-crossing orbit, has a 1-in-1,750 chance of hitting Earth on Sept. 24, 2182. Neither 2024 YR4 nor Bennu are near the ...

At the same time, Bennu was also flinging marble-size bits of rock away from its surface. Those crumbs entered orbit around the asteroid, and then some of them fell back to its surface.

NASA still has plenty of time to make that decision, however, with the probe scheduled to remain in orbit around Bennu for the duration of 2019 before attempting its most risky move. In the ...

If all goes well, NASA is planning on snatching a sample of Bennu’s material in August ... navigating the spacecraft through both the orbit departure and Checkpoint maneuvers, and ensures ...

A new study suggests Bennu may have formed beyond Saturn’s orbit, carrying materials from the coldest regions of the solar system. Berkeley Lab plans further infrared and X-ray analysis of Bennu ...

In January, the probe will get closer to the asteroid - between 1.4 and 1.9 kilometres - before starting to orbit it. That will make Bennu the smallest object ever to be orbited by a spacecraft in ...

UPDATE: Oct. 20, 2020, 6:41 p.m. EDT: The story below has been updated to reflect that NASA successfully touched the surface of Bennu to collect samples. Asteroid Bennu has had its close-up.

23: Autumn is here The autumnal equinox is one of two points in Earth’s orbit where the sun creates ... a NASA spacecraft swooped in on Bennu, a near-Earth asteroid, and scooped up rock and ...