{"id":533868,"date":"2026-03-20T01:44:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T01:44:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/533868\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T01:44:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T01:44:09","slug":"a-4-5-billion-year-old-asteroid-sample-bennus-newly-discovered-pattern-could-disrupt-future-solar-studies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/533868\/","title":{"rendered":"A 4.5 billion-year-old asteroid sample “Bennu’s” newly discovered pattern could disrupt future solar studies"},"content":{"rendered":"

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — Scientists say they are studying a surprise from space.<\/p>\n

NASA recently released scans of the Bennu Asteroid from the agency’s Osiris-Rex Mission. Using older Earth scans and images, researchers identified several smooth spots on the space rock based on the heat it emitted.<\/p>\n

New images taken by the Osiris-Rex probe and the study of samples taken by Bennu, which live right here in Houston, revealed that the asteroid is actually much more jagged and rugged, with large boulders.<\/p>\n

RELATED: 4.5 billion-year-old asteroid sample “Bennu” now on display at Space Center Houston<\/a>

Scientists said the confusion stems from the asteroid’s structure and the way it causes Bennu to emit heat in an unexpected way. The discovery, scientists said, is transforming the way they view the structures of asteroids across the universe based on what they see from Earth.<\/p>\n

Researchers stated that the mission is already reshaping our understanding of the origins of the solar system.<\/p>\n

They said, “Bennu’s samples are pivotal in our understanding of what ingredients in our solar system existed before life started on Earth.”Scientists confirm Bennu is in the family of asteroids believed to have crashed into Earth four-point-five billion years ago.<\/p>\n

Studying it could yield unprecedented insights into how our planet and solar system formed.<\/p>\n

Osiris-Rex launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, back in September 2016. The craft landed on the asteroid back in October 2020 and, after spending months on the space rock, launched to head back toward Earth in May 2021.<\/p>\n

It took more than seven years and almost four billion miles for Osiris-REX to travel to Bennu, collect the half-pound sample, and get back to Earth.<\/p>\n

The sample is the first asteroid sample ever obtained by the United States and the largest sample ever collected from an asteroid.<\/p>\n

The probe flew past Earth in September 2023, dropping a canister with the samples from Bennu it collected in Utah.<\/p>\n

RELATED: Johnson Space Center begins study on asteroid sample that could reveal life origins on Earth<\/a><\/p>\n

Those samples were flown here to Houston for scientists at Johnson Space Center, but it took the team several months. to begin studying the sample.<\/p>\n

Researchers finally opened a container holding rocks and dust from the Bennu Asteroid in January 2024. Scientists had to stop the process in October 2023 because the tools they had couldn’t properly disassemble the container.<\/p>\n

They spent several months developing specialized tools for the task, then studied and analyzed the sample for two years. In March 2024, curators at Space Center Houston unveiled a piece of the Bennu asteroid to the public.<\/p>\n

With the help of a magnifying glass, guests can get a closer look at point-one-five grams of a cosmic gift.<\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2026 KTRK-TV. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — Scientists say they are studying a surprise from space. NASA recently released scans of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":533869,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[239715,79,193],"class_list":["post-533868","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-239715","tag-science","tag-space"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533868","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=533868"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533868\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/533869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=533868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=533868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=533868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}