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101955 Bennu

File:Bennu_mosaic_OSIRIS-REx_(square).png · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons

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101955 Bennu

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Also known as (101955) 1999 RQ36, Bennu, 1999 RQ36

near-Earth asteroid of highest impact hazard

Key facts

Discovered by
LINEAR
Discovery site
Lincoln Lab's ETS
Discovery date
11 September 1999
Pronunciation
/ ˈ b ɛ n uː /
Named after
Bennu
Alternative designations
1999 RQ 36
Minor planet category
Apollo · NEO · PHA · risk listed
Observation arc
21.06 yr (7693 days)
Aphelion
1.3559 au (202.84 Gm )
Perihelion
0.8969 au (134.17 Gm)
Semi major axis
1.1264 au (168.51 Gm)
Orbital period sidereal
1.1955 yr (436.65 d )
Average orbital speed
28.0 km/s (63,000 mph)
Mean anomaly
101.7039 °
Mean motion
0° 49 28.056 / day
Inclination
6.0349°
Longitude of ascending node
2.0609°
Argument of perihelion
66.2231°

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Named after
Bennu
Area
0.7874
Parent body
Sun
Minor-planet group
Apollo asteroid
Diameter
0.48444
Mass
73290000000
Orbital period
436.6487281120201
Image
Bennu mosaic OSIRIS-REx (square).png
Show 23 more facts
Commons category
101955 Bennu
time of discovery or invention
1999-09-11
provisional designation
1999 RQ36
orbital inclination
6.03494377024794
semi-major axis of an orbit
1.126391025894812
periapsis
0.8968944004459729
apoapsis
1.355887651343651
longitude of ascending node
2.06086619569642
argument of periapsis
66.22306084084298
mean anomaly
101.703952002457
rotation period
4.296061
asteroid spectral type
F-type asteroid
absolute magnitude
20.21
orbital eccentricity
0.2037450762416414
catalog code
1999 RQ36
albedo
0.0170
density
1.194
temperature
279
volume as quantity
0.061354
color index
0.69
time of periapsis
2455439.1419408727
Sources (6)

via Wikidata · CC0

~27 min read

Encyclopedic overview

Spectral type B F Absolute magnitude (H) 20.9

101955 Bennu (provisional designation 1999 RQ36) is a carbonaceous asteroid in the Apollo group discovered by the LINEAR Project on 11 September 1999. It is a potentially hazardous object that is listed on the Sentry Risk Table and has the second highest cumulative rating on the Palermo scale. It has a cumulative chance of around 1-in-1,750 of impacting Earth between 2178 and 2290 with the greatest risk being on 24 September 2182. It is named after Bennu, the ancient Egyptian mythological bird associated with the Sun, creation, and rebirth.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “101955 Bennu” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

Gallery (12)