SpaceRambler

Experience the “Web Around Asteroid Bennu” in this interactive, 360° video, optimized for mobile devices and desktop browsers. Bennu is one of Earth’s closest planetary neighbors – an asteroid roughly the height of a skyscraper, and for nearly two-and-a-half years, the place that NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission called home. From late 2018 to mid-2021, OSIRIS-REx wrapped Bennu in a growing web of observations, performing maneuvers never before attempted in a microgravity environment. This 360° video follows the spacecraft as it weaves a continuous path around Bennu, allowing viewers to explore the asteroid from within the web.

On the left side of the frame is the full circle of the Sun. It appears in a golden yellow color, but splotchy and with thin yellow wisps extending from the surface. Some areas are very bright and others almost black. The whole Sun rotates steadily, with one full rotation taking 12 minutes in this time lapse. There are usually only a few bright regions visible at a time and they shift and flash like small fires. From these regions there are wispy loops reaching up above the surface that rapidly change shape and size. On the right side of the frame are two white-outlined squares with enlargements of interesting regions of the Sun.