The Formation of the Solar System in 6 minutes! (4K "Ultra HD")

For my first Space post for today, I chose a short 6-minute video, which delineates a brief, but excellent history of our solar system and the story of how our Earth was formed some 4.5 billion years ago, as told from the perspective of an asteroid called Bennu (which has survived until now). NASA sent a satellite to study Bennu to help us learn more about the beginning of our solar system. This video predates the mission of OSIRIS-REx, which landed on Bennu and scooped up a sample on October 20, 2020. and is on its way back to Earth...

Background of Asteroid Bennu:

101955 Bennu (provisional designation 1999 RQ36) 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 with the second-highest cumulative rating on the Palermo Technical Impact Hazard Scale. It has a cumulative 1-in-2,700 chance of impacting Earth between 2175 and 2199. It is named after the Bennu, the ancient Egyptian mythological bird associated with the Sun, creation, and rebirth.

101955 Bennu has a mean diameter of 490 m (1,610 ft; 0.30 mi) and has been observed extensively with the Arecibo Observatory planetary radar and the Goldstone Deep Space Network.

Bennu is the target of the OSIRIS-REx mission which is intended to return its samples to Earth in 2023 for further study. On 3 December 2018, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft arrived at Bennu after a two-year journey.[18] It orbited the asteroid and mapped out Bennu's surface in detail, seeking potential sample collection sites. Analysis of the orbits allowed calculation of Bennu's mass and its distribution.[19]

On 18 June 2019, NASA announced that the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft had closed in and captured an image from a distance of 600 metres (2,000 ft) from Bennu's surface.

In October 2020, OSIRIS-REx successfully touched down on the surface of Bennu, collected a sample using an extendable arm, secured the sample and prepared for a return trip to Earth.

I hope you all enjoy this scientific Video...
Kerry
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