AssetID: 52919411
Headline: UNCAPTIONED: Musician and astrophysicist Brian May co-authored the first atlas of an asteroid
Caption: Musician and Astrophysicist Brian May, Co-Authored the First Atlas of an Asteroid. A new book, co-authored by University of Arizona's planetary science expert Dante Lauretta, is set to become the world's first atlas of an asteroid. 'The Guardian' reports that the book is notably co-authored by little-known astrophysicist Brian May, who is better known as the guitarist for Queen. The two astrophysicists joined forces to author, 'Bennu 3-D: Anatomy of an Asteroid’. The book is reportedly the first complete, three-dimensional atlas of an asteroid ever. The book, featuring images and data from the Osiris-Rex mission, is set to be released on July 27. The Osiris-Rex mission was a partnership between NASA and the University of Arizona aimed at collecting samples from Bennu, a near-Earth asteroid. The mission, which launched in 2016, is scheduled to return to Earth carrying data from the asteroid on September 24 of this year. NASA expects the mission to deliver: “pristine material from Bennu – rocks and dust collected from the asteroid’s surface in 2020.” According to NASA, the mission offers scientists a window into 4.5 billion years ago, at a time when the sun and planets were still in the process of forming. NASA considers Bennu one of the asteroids which pose the greatest risk to Earth. NASA has estimated that Bennu has a relatively high probability of impacting Earth at some point in the late 22nd century. THIS VIDEO MUST NOT BE EDITED FOR LENGTH TO COMBINE WITH OTHER CONTENT
Keywords: Brian May,Musician,Astrophysicist,Co-authored,First,Atlas,Asteroid,Queen,Book,The Guardian,Three-dimensional,Bennu 3-D: Anatomy of an Asteroid,Mission
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