Uploaded August 2018 | Updated September 2026, 18 minutes ago
On Aug. 17, 2018, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft obtained the first images of its target asteroid, Bennu (circled in green), from a distance of 1.4 million miles (2.2 million km), or almost six times the distance between the Earth and Moon. This cropped set of five images was obtained by the PolyCam camera over the course of an hour for calibration purposes and in order to assist the mission’s navigation team with optical navigation efforts. Bennu is visible as a moving object against the stars in the constellation Serpens.
On Aug. 17, 2018, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft obtained the first images of its target asteroid, Bennu (circled in green), from a distance of 1.4 million miles (2.2 million km), or almost six times the distance between the Earth and Moon. This cropped set of five images was obtained by the PolyCam camera over the course of an hour for calibration purposes and in order to assist the mission’s navigation team with optical navigation efforts. Bennu is visible as a moving object against the stars in the constellation Serpens.
