On this night in science
A gentle tap on an asteroid
October 20, 2020
On this day in 2020, a spacecraft called OSIRIS-REx reached out its long arm and touched an asteroid named Bennu for just a few seconds. A puff of gas stirred up dust and pebbles, and the spacecraft caught some of them.
Why it mattered
Three years later, those bits of Bennu landed safely back on Earth, where scientists are studying them to learn how our solar system began.
Wonder together
If you could hold a pebble from an asteroid, what do you think it would feel like?
Where this comes from