Skip Navigation

Resources

Part of a Larger Body

Artist's concept of asteroids in space
Source: NASA
Published: July 12, 2018

Scientists think Bennu is part of a larger body that broke apart. This artist’s concept shows that event. 

ENLARGE

Related

This test image from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) captures a swath of the southern sky along the plane of our galaxy. More than 200,000 stars are visible in this image. 
More
Black and white image packed with stars.
TESS: 200,000 stars
To make sure that the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment (LADEE) spacecraft is perfectly balanced for flight, engineers mount it onto a spin table and rotate it at high speeds, approximately one...
More
To make sure that the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment (LADEE) spacecraft is perfectly balanced for flight, engineers mount it onto a spin table and rotate it at high speeds, approximately one revolution per second.
LADEE Balance Test
This is an image of the dwarf planet Eris (centre) and its satellite Dysnomia (at 9 o'clock position) taken with NASA/ESA's Hubble Space Telescope on Aug. 30, 2006.
More
This is an image of the dwarf planet Eris (centre) and its satellite Dysnomia (at 9 o'clock position) taken with NASA/ESA's Hubble Space Telescope on Aug. 30, 2006.
Hubble view of Eris and Dysnomia
This enhanced color map was produced by using images from the color base map imaging campaign during MESSENGER's primary mission.
More
Color enhanced map of Mercury
Enhanced Color Mercury Map
On July 19, 2013, in an event celebrated the world over, NASA's Cassini spacecraft slipped into Saturn's shadow and turned to image the planet, seven of its moons, its inner rings -- and, i...
More
On July 19, 2013, in an event celebrated the world over, NASA's Cassini spacecraft slipped into Saturn's shadow and turned to image the planet, seven of its moons, its inner rings -- and, in the background, our home planet, Earth.
The Day the Earth Smiled
The sharp eye of NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has captured the tiny moon Phobos during its orbital trek around Mars. 
More
The sharp eye of NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has captured the tiny moon Phobos during its orbital trek around Mars.
NASA's Hubble Sees Martian Moon Orbiting the Red Planet
Taking its first peek at Uranus, NASA Hubble Space Telescope's Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS) has detected six distinct clouds in images taken July 28, 1997.
More
Taking its first peek at Uranus, NASA Hubble Space Telescope's Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS) has detected six distinct clouds in images taken July 28, 1997.
Hubble Tracks Clouds on Uranus
This Voyager 2 image of the Uranian rings delta, gamma, eta, beta and alpha (from top) was taken Jan. 23, 1986. 
More
This Voyager 2 image of the Uranian rings delta, gamma, eta, beta and alpha (from top) was taken Jan. 23, 1986.
Rings of Uranus
Callisto was revealed by the Voyager cameras to be a heavily cratered and hence geologically inactive world.
More
Callisto was revealed by NASA's Voyager cameras to be a heavily cratered and hence geologically inactive world.
Callisto Mosaic
This image mosaic, showing Eros' saddle and a shadowed feature to its left, was taken on March 3, 2000 from a distance of 204 kilometers (127 miles).
More
Black and white picture of shadowed feature on asteroid Eros
Glimpses into Eros' Shadows
This image shows the Minotaur V rocket that will carry NASA's Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) on a pad at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility at Wallops Island, Va.
More
This image shows the Minotaur V rocket that will carry NASA's Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) on a pad at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility at Wallops Island, Va.
LADEE's Minotaur V Rocket
This composite Hubble Space Telescope image captures the positions of Comet Siding Spring and Mars in a never-before-seen close passage of a comet by the Red Planet, which happened at 2:28 p.m. EDT...
More
This composite Hubble Space Telescope image captures the positions of Comet Siding Spring and Mars in a never-before-seen close passage of a comet by the Red Planet, which happened at 2:28 p.m. EDT October 19, 2014.
Mars and Comet Siding Spring
Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter slewed 54 degrees to the east to snap a dramatic oblique view of the Chang'e 3 site (arrow).
More
Photo of Chang'e landing site
Chang'e Lunar Rover Landing Site
These three images of Jupiter, taken through the narrow angle camera of NASA's Cassini spacecraft from a distance of 77.6 million kilometers (48.2 million miles) on October 8, reveal more than ...
More
These three images of Jupiter, taken through the narrow angle camera of NASA's Cassini spacecraft from a distance of 77.6 million kilometers (48.2 million miles) on October 8, reveal more than is apparent to the naked eye through a telescope.
Jupiter in blue, ultraviolet and Near Infrared
NASA's Cassini spacecraft looks toward the night side of Saturn's moon Titan in a view that highlights the extended, hazy nature of the moon's atmosphere.
More
NASA's Cassini spacecraft looks toward the night side of Saturn's moon Titan in a view that highlights the extended, hazy nature of the moon's atmosphere.
Highlighting Titan's Hazes
The Cassini spacecraft watches as clouds swirl through Saturn's equatorial latitudes.
More
The Cassini spacecraft watches as clouds swirl through Saturn's equatorial latitudes.
Swirling Clouds
This is the most accurate natural color images of Pluto taken by NASA's New Horizons spacecraft in 2015.
More
Color image of Pluto showing a brownish hue.
True Colors of Pluto
NASA's New Horizons captured this high-resolution enhanced color view of Charon just before closest approach on July 14, 2015. 
More
Enhanced color image showing surface details of moon Charon.
Charon in Enhanced Color
In August 2012, a long filament of solar material coalesced in the Sun's atmosphere. 
More
In August 2012, a long filament of solar material coalesced in the sun's atmosphere. For several days it was visible, appearing from Earth's viewpoint to curl up and over the left side of the sun.
Solar Filament Coalesces in Sun's Atmosphere
This is an image of the planet Uranus taken by the spacecraft Voyager 2 on January 14th 1986 from a distance of approximately 7.8 milllion miles ( 12.7 million km ).
More
This is an image of the planet Uranus taken by the spacecraft Voyager 2 on January 14th 1986 from a distance of approximately 7.8 milllion miles ( 12.7 million km ).
Uranus as seen by NASA's Voyager 2
This image of Ceres is part of a sequence taken by NASA's Dawn spacecraft April 24 to 26, 2015, from a distance of 8,400 miles (13,600 kilometers).
More
Black and white image of Ceres
Dawn RC3 Image 3
This artist’s concept shows the OSIRIS-REx mission returning a sample from Bennu to Earth.
More
Artist's concept of the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft in space
OSIRIS-REx
A meteor captured during the height of the Perseid shower in August 2018.
More
streak of light in dense star field between trees
A "Shooting Star" Among the Stars
Spacecraft specialists huddle to discuss the critical lift of NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander into a thermal vacuum chamber.
More
Spacecraft specialists huddle to discuss the critical lift of NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander into a thermal vacuum chamber.
Team Huddle Before Lifting Phoenix into Test Chamber
A recent Hubble Space Telescope view reveals Uranus surrounded by its four major rings and by 10 of its 17 known satellites. 
More
A recent Hubble Space Telescope view reveals Uranus surrounded by its four major rings and by 10 of its 17 known satellites.
Hubble Finds Many Bright Clouds on Uranus

You Might Also Like

NASA's Opportunity rover has been silent since June 10, when a planet-encircling dust storm cut off solar power for the nearly-15-year-old rover. Now that scientists think the global dust storm is "decaying" -- meaning more dust is falling out of the atmosphere than is being raised back into it -- skies might soon clear enough for the solar-powered rover to recharge and attempt to "phone home."
More
Six Things About Opportunity's Recovery Efforts
Six Things About Opportunity's Recovery Efforts
Hours before the rise of the very star it will study, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe launched from Florida Sunday to begin its journey to the Sun, where it will undertake a landmark mission.
More
NASA, ULA Launch Parker Solar Probe on Historic Journey to Touch Sun
NASA, ULA Launch Parker Solar Probe on Historic Journey to Touch Sun
Launching from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, Parker Solar Probe will make its journey all the way to the Sun’s atmosphere, or corona — closer to the Sun than any spacecraft in history.
More
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe is About to Lift Off
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe is About to Lift Off
A new paper published in Science this week suggests that liquid water may be sitting under a layer of ice at Mars' south pole.
More
NASA Statement on Possible Subsurface Lake near Martian South Pole
NASA Statement on Possible Subsurface Lake near Martian South Pole
The European Space Agency announced that radar data collected by its Mars Express spacecraft point to a pond of liquid water buried under layers of ice and dust in the south polar region of Mars.
More
ESA: Mars Express Detects Liquid Water Hidden Under Planet’s South Pole
ESA: Mars Express Detects Liquid Water Hidden Under Planet’s South Pole
Marking the anniversary of New Horizons' historic flight through the Pluto system on July 14, 2015, mission scientists have released the most accurate natural color images of Pluto and Charon.
More
The True Colors of Pluto and Charon
The True Colors of Pluto and Charon