Astronomy Picture of the Day

   [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                               2020 October 22
    [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download an animated
                                    gif.

                                Tagging Bennu
       Image Credit: [3]OSIRIS-REx, [4]University of Arizona, [5]NASA,
                 [6]Goddard Scientific Visualization Studio

   Explanation: [7]On October 20, after a [8]careful approach to the
   boulder-strewn surface, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft's arm reached out and
   touched asteroid Bennu. Dubbed a [9]Touch-And-Go (TAG) sampling event,
   the 30 centimeter wide sampling head (TAGSAM) appears to crush some of
   the rocks in this snapshot. The close-up scene was recorded by the
   spacecraft's SamCam some 321 million kilometers from planet Earth, just
   after surface contact. One second later, the spacecraft fired nitrogen
   gas from a bottle intended to blow a substantial amount of [10]Bennu's
   regolith into the sampling head, collecting the loose surface material.
   Data show the spacecraft spent approximately 5 more seconds in contact
   with Bennu's Nightingale sample site and then performed its back-away
   burn. Timelapse frames from SamCam [11]reveal the aftermath.

                     Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space
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    Authors & editors: [23]Robert Nemiroff ([24]MTU) & [25]Jerry Bonnell
                                 ([26]UMCP)
          NASA Official: Phillip Newman [27]Specific rights apply.
              [28]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices
                A service of: [29]ASD at [30]NASA / [31]GSFC
                           & [32]Michigan Tech. U.

References

   1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
   2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2010/E_tag_aftermath.gif
   3. https://www.nasa.gov/osiris-rex
   4. https://osirisrex.arizona.edu/
   5. https://www.nasa.gov/
   6. https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/
   7. https://youtu.be/xj0O-fLSV7c
   8. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap201012.html
   9. https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2020/osiris-rex-tags-surface-of-asteroid-bennu/
  10. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200916.html
  11. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2010/E_tag_aftermath.gif
  12. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap201021.html
  13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
  14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html
  15. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html
  16. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  17. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html
  18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss
  19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html
  20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html
  21. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=201022
  22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap201023.html
  23. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  24. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  25. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  26. http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  27. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  28. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  29. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  30. https://www.nasa.gov/
  31. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  32. http://www.mtu.edu/