Bennu is a small, near-Earth asteroid that passes close to Earth about every six years. It was the target of NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission to collect an asteroid sample and bring it to Earth.
Former Port Jervis Science Teacher (and Radio Catskill volunteer) Joe Johnson talks about the surprising phosphate finding in the asteroid sample, as well as other science stories that caught his eye: ‘dark oxygen’ produced four thousand meters below the ocean’s surface and the mysterious ‘dark fungi’ lurking everywhere.
Image: This image shows asteroid Bennu’s spinning-top shape, was taken by the MapCam camera on NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft on April 29, 2020 from a distance of 5 miles. From the spacecraft’s vantage point, half of Bennu is sunlit and half is in shadow. (Credit: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona)