NASA's OSIRIS REx spacecraft captured a photo of Bennu.Scientists have said that Bennu, an asteroid also known as Bennu, will travel within half the distance between the Earth and the Moon in 2135. However, the likelihood of it striking our planet in the next few centuries is extremely low.OSIRIS-REx was a NASA spacecraft that spent two years close to Bennu (an asteroid measuring approximately 1,650 feet (505 meters). It observed its size, shape and composition, and tracked its orbit around the sun.The spacecraft collected a sample of the asteroid's surface using its robotic arm. This will aid researchers in determining the future trajectory for Bennu.OSIRIS-REx will return the rocks and dust it collected to Earth on September 24, 2023.Bennu was found in 1999. It is now considered a potentially dangerous asteroid.It will be in close proximity to Earth on September 2135.Scientists are trying to determine how Earth's gravity, a phenomenon called the Yarkovsky Effect, will impact its future trajectory."The OSIRIS–REx data provide us with so much more accurate information, we can test our models and calculate Bennu's future trajectory to a very high level of certainty through 2135," stated Davide Farnocchia (a scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California).NASA video frame handout photo shows the robotic arm of the NASA spacecraft OSIRIS–REx collecting samples from Bennu.Farnocchia, the lead author of the study in Icarus, stated that "we've never modelled an asteroid’s trajectory to such precision before."He stressed that "the impact probability overall" is very low. It is not something to be concerned about.Farnocchia stated that the danger from Bennu is "less than the undiscovered population objects of similar size."Researchers estimated Bennu's total probability of having an impact on the world between now and 2300, which is approximately one in 1,750 or 0.057 per cent.Lindley Johnson, of NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office, stated that "We are still searching for what we don’t know out therethe objects which haven’t been found yet."Johnson stated that researchers are looking at ways to change the orbit of an asteroids, should this ever be necessary.He stated that an asteroid hitting Earth would create a crater 10-20 times larger than the object, and cause destruction 100 times greater than the crater.Johnson said, however, that "we really don't believe we need to take any action about Bennu."2021 AFP
