101955 Bennu (provisional designation 1999 RQ 36) is a carbonaceous asteroid in the Apollo group discovered by the LINEAR Project on 11 September 1999. It is a potentially hazardous object that is listed on the Sentry Risk Table and has the third highest cumulative rating on the Palermo Technical Impact Hazard Scale . [ 9 ]

Dec 20, 2024 · Bennu makes one orbit around the Sun every 1.2 years. It makes one full rotation on its axis every 4.3 hours. Bennu makes a close approach to Earth every six years, coming within about 186,000 miles (299,000 kilometers) of our planet. Its orbital path is tilted about 5 degrees relative to Earth’s.

Oct 16, 2020 · As Bennu continues to rotate, it expels this heat, which gives the asteroid a tiny push towards the Sun by about 0.18 miles (approximately 0.29 kilometers) per year, changing its orbit. 7. THERE IS A SMALL CHANCE THAT BENNU WILL IMPACT EARTH LATE IN THE NEXT CENTURY.

Bennu orbits the sun every 437 days (1.20 years), coming as close as 0.90 AU and reaching as far as 1.36 AU from the sun. Bennu is about 0.5 kilometers in diameter, making it larger than 90% of asteroids but tiny compared to large asteroids, comparable in size to the U.S. Capitol building.

Dec 17, 2024 · Bennu is a relatively small asteroid that passes close to Earth about every six years. Bennu was the target of NASA’s first asteroid sample return mission, OSIRIS-REx. The spacecraft delivered a sample of Bennu to Earth on Sept. 24, 2023.

Aug 11, 2021 · This video explains how OSIRIS-REx data was used to precisely determine asteroid Bennu’s orbit around the Sun, helping scientists understand how Earth’s gravity will affect the asteroid’s trajectory when it makes a close approach in 2135.

Dec 21, 2022 · Asteroid Bennu is a potentially hazardous near-Earth asteroid that was studied by NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission from 2018 to 2021. The exploration, which involved a dramatic sample...

Aug 11, 2021 · On September 25, 2135, an asteroid called Bennu will make a close flyby of Earth. Our planet’s gravity will tweak Bennu’s path, making it a challenge to calculate its future trajectory.

Nov 21, 2024 · The asteroid makes one full orbit around the Sun every 1.2 years. Its trajectory takes it relatively close to Earth every six years. Observations from 1999-2000 and 2005-2006 were especially fruitful because Bennu was so close. The asteroid won’t make another close approach to Earth until 2060.

Dec 6, 2018 · By 2135, when Bennu’s shifted orbit is expected to bring it closer than the Moon, its flyby window grows wider, to 160,000 kilometers (nearly 100,000 miles). This will be Bennu’s closest approach to Earth over the five centuries for which we have reliable calculations.