Meteorites from Vesta Found on Asteroid Bennu

  • Released Monday, September 21st, 2020
  • Updated Wednesday, May 3rd, 2023 at 1:44PM
  • ID: 13707

OSIRIS-REx made an unexpected discovery at asteroid Bennu - several boulders that originated from asteroid Vesta. The new result helps scientists better understand the origins of this "rubble pile" asteroid.

Music is "Mechanical Systems" by David Edwards of Universal Production Music.

In an interplanetary faux pas, it appears some pieces of asteroid Vesta ended up on asteroid Bennu, according to observations from NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft. The new result sheds light on the intricate orbital dance of asteroids and on the violent origin of Bennu, which is a “rubble pile” asteroid that coalesced from the fragments of a massive collision.

Credits

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

Missions

This visualization is related to the following missions: